It’s on the tip of nearly everyone’s tounge: America needs a National Broadband Strategy. With Capital Letters. Now. Or at least by January 20, 2009.
Seriously, it is amazing how much consensus there seems to have developed on this simple point. From the Bell carriers to Googlers, from public interest groups to local legislators, from Democratic activists critical of anything and everything done by the Bush administration to rural Republicans who finally want the Universal Service Fund to cover high-speed Internet services: they all want a National Broadband Strategy.
The only remaining question is: What sort of Broadband Strategy? The debate will begin at the 2008 Politics Online Conference.
Politics Online, of course, that great watering hole that sits at the intersection of smart politics, good governance, transparent democracy and innovative technology. In previous years, the conference has highlighted just how significant the Internet has become to the political process. This year, Politics Online is also branching into public policy — at least where it comes to broadband policy.
Here’s the description for the keynote panel that I’ll be moderating, on, you guessed it, “Building a Broadband Strategy for America:”
Broadband penetration in the United States lags behind the rest of the world. At the same time, tough new questions regarding access and fairness face policymakers.
Join an interactive look about why broadband matters and how the political process will affect the future of the Internet at “Building a Broadband Strategy for America,” a keynote conversation at the 2008 Politics Online Conference.
We’ve got a great keynote panel lined up for the event. I’ll lead the discussion in a question -and-answer session with top officials from three of the major players in the debate over broadband.
- Federal Communications Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, who has traveled the country attempting to rally Americans behind the concept of a National Broadband Strategy.
- Tim Wu, the Professor of Law at Columbia University who coined the term “Net Neutrality,” and who last year extended the Net Neutrality debate to the wireless world by criticizing mobile carriers that lock their handsets, like the iPhone.
- Eric Werner, a Senior Advisor at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, in the Bush Administration. NTIA recently issued a report on the President’s goal to have universal and affordable broadband by 2007.
This keynote panel promises to be a great event. It takes place from 12:30 p.m.-2 p.m. on Tuesday, March 4, at the Renaissance Washington Hotel. Contact the sponsor, the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet, at George Washington University, for information on attending.
4 responses so far ↓
1 John Windhausen // Feb 20, 2008 at 8:49 am
Congratulations, Drew, for launching this much-needed discussion. EDUCAUSE has released a new paper called “A Blueprint for Big Broadband” that documents the need for a comprehensive broadband policy. The U.S. has tried the hands-off, let-the-marketplace-work, strategy and the result is that we are behind almost every other developed nation, largely because other countries have an active government broadband plan. The US needs to focus on Big Broadband — 100 Megs to 1 gig — to leapfrog ahead ahead of our economic rivals. Unfortunately, the existing USF is ill-equipped to handle the investment that is needed. The U.S. should consider subsidizing fiber to the home for all Americans. Why? Because the capacity of fiber is virtually unlimited, it is cheaper to operate, and it will provide enough capacity for decades to come.
2 IPDI » Blog Archive » Want Better Broadband in America? Take the BroadbandCensus.com! // Mar 3, 2008 at 10:56 am
[…] Read about the star-studded panel that I’ll be moderating. You can also read my previous blog post on why divergent parties do seem to be coalescing around a National Broadband […]
3 Want Better Broadband in America? Take the Broadband Census! // Mar 3, 2008 at 11:46 am
[…] Read about the star-studded panel that I’ll be moderating. You can also read my previous blog post on why divergent parties do seem to be coalescing around a National Broadband […]
4 Tom Poe // Mar 6, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Drew: Will your conference give serious consideration to the option for a bottom up national broadband infrastructure policy?
I point to the national everyone must watch digital tv, so everyone will have a converter box so they can watch digital tv policy, as support for a bottom up national broadband infrastructure policy. It goes like this:
Everyone must have broadband access, so everyone will have a Meraki unit box so they can have broadband access policy.
Let’s imagine a community without Internet access, but with broadband infrastructure in place at a cost of $50 per house. What’s missing? Internet surfing. What’s not missing? Phone, tv, radio, telemedicine programs, videoconferencing, town hall meetings, live interactive tv talk shows, live interactive radio shows, special events, and every kid gets a ture 21st century education. By the way, when completed, San Francisco’s Meraki network puts out a RFP, to see who bids the most to gain access to the city’s broadband infrastructure. Ypsilanti, Michigan, is doing the same thing.
I really think this broadband infrastructure policy/strategy discussion needs to rethink what topics will be covered. Let me know what happens.
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