Net Neutrality: The National Broadband Plan & Civil Rights

[Kevin Spidel]

I am finding that the left blogsphere is not talking about the National Broadband Plan. Is net neutrality a non issue for the left? There are many implications to the digital divide. How about DU'ers... any concerns or issues as it relates to the National Broadband Plan the FCC is putting forward?

On edit to clarify:

Fed Releases Internet Use Report - TODAY

there were some substantial disparities between ethnic groups. Asian non-Hispanics led all other groups with 67.3 percent using broadband at home, with White non-Hispanics second in usage (65.7); followed by Black non-Hispanics (45.9); Native Americans (42.6) and Hispanics (39.7).

http://www.cable360.net/ct/news/ctreports/commentary/Fed-Releases-Internet-Use-Report_40034.html


Questions:

Does including "net neutrality" policies in the National Plan hinder innovation and access to rural and minority communities? Is government regulation to ensure an open web at the cost of access to such communities a good thing?

It is an interesting liberatiran/progressive blended debate. Where are the DU'ers on this?

[Kevin Spidel]

1. First signs of Broadband Plan scale-back include subtle dig at FCC predecessor

and its happening now:


At one point quoting the former President, Comm. Copps wrote in May, “The interstate highway system provides another example of the success public-private partnerships have had in stimulating infrastructure development. The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 initially funded construction of the nation’s interstate highways. Funding continued until 1996, when the originally-planned network was near completion. State governments received the bulk of the funds, owned the interstate highways, and awarded contracts to the private sector to construct the segments that lay within their boundaries. President Eisenhower, recognizing the capacity of a highway system to unify the country, said of the project, ‘Together, the uniting forces of our communication and transportation systems are dynamic elements in the name we bear: United States. Without them, we would be a mere alliance of many separate parts.’”

[Therellas]

2. I think this marks the start of a very bad time for the american people ......

some don't even realize what it means.
i think its the soul of the internets.

[Kevin Spidel]

3. the current debate

is Google & AT&T lobbying FCC.

"In the 21st century, it is high-speed Internet that is reshaping our economy and our lives more profoundly than any technology since electricity and with at least as much potential for advancing prosperity and opportunity, creating jobs, and improving our lives," he said. "The information and communications technology sector of the American economy now represent a trillion dollars in revenue, millions of jobs, and 13% of the GDP."

Question is does regulation (net neutrality) hinder innovation and/or access.

In the cases of rural and minority communities we must keep the access question at the forefront. Is government regulation on bandwidth and infrastructure a good thing of bad thing? Is net neutrality seen as government regulation for us on the left?

[Echo In Light]

4. Thanks for posting

[G_j]

5. K&R

[Kevin Spidel]

6. comments like this...

show the racial divide is very much part of the digital divide:

http://www.tgdaily.com/hardware-features/48465-fcc-outlines-ambitious-national-broadband-plan#close

The commerce movement has totally replaced the civil rights movement. Blacks that wanted to be an equally productive member of society as white people are now fighting to move our jobs to China. I've known some really stupid and trashy white women who I'm reminded of when I watch old films of Civil Rights rallys, where white women are waving signs that read n**** don't you wish you were white. I grewup around those same white women at home, have them for neighbors, sat next to them in churches, fought with their kids in the community, and their general stupidy about life and subjects never ceased to amaze me. I still feel a great divide in America where we're stuck between survivors and scrappers, where businesses refuse to talk about shutting down, and bankers forclose in a written letter...