Broadband, American Style
Recent stories about secret/ex parte meetings between FCC officials and major Internet access providers and the FCC Chairman denying and rejecting a reported Google initiative to pay Verizon for faster speeds, highlights the ongoing divide between digital public policy and private commercial interests.
The domestic "digital divide" and the difference between US and other nations' broadband deployment and capacity results from many factors, some of which are particular to American political and economic history and philosophy. The national highway system saw its greatest impetus from the 1950's and concerns about national security in the Cold War. Federal communications policy is rooted in a broadcast philosophy of localism and private commercial exploitation of the "public's" air.
The cyclical expansion and contraction of federal regulation of cable and broadcast is often fueled by political recognition of cost and competitive concerns that many times lags behind market and technology developments. In an effort to spur growth of broadband, federal philosophy has been to regulate with a very light hand while public concerns over patchwork deployment and access has grown. Add that to current issues of privacy private decisions over access to speed and even content, and the role of a national broadband policy becomes more crucial--and controversial.
Private investment, risk and return is at the heart of American belief in economic and technological growth. Recognizing that in a global digital/information economy, having access to reliable and consistent broadband service combines issues of perceived equality of opportunity and ability to compete both on an individual and international level.
The ongoing effort to find an American balance among all these competing interests will impact not only corporate strategic plans and means, but in how each of us interacts with each other and the world.
The domestic "digital divide" and the difference between US and other nations' broadband deployment and capacity results from many factors, some of which are particular to American political and economic history and philosophy. The national highway system saw its greatest impetus from the 1950's and concerns about national security in the Cold War. Federal communications policy is rooted in a broadcast philosophy of localism and private commercial exploitation of the "public's" air.
The cyclical expansion and contraction of federal regulation of cable and broadcast is often fueled by political recognition of cost and competitive concerns that many times lags behind market and technology developments. In an effort to spur growth of broadband, federal philosophy has been to regulate with a very light hand while public concerns over patchwork deployment and access has grown. Add that to current issues of privacy private decisions over access to speed and even content, and the role of a national broadband policy becomes more crucial--and controversial.
Private investment, risk and return is at the heart of American belief in economic and technological growth. Recognizing that in a global digital/information economy, having access to reliable and consistent broadband service combines issues of perceived equality of opportunity and ability to compete both on an individual and international level.
The ongoing effort to find an American balance among all these competing interests will impact not only corporate strategic plans and means, but in how each of us interacts with each other and the world.
posted by Glenn Moss at 8:41 AM
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