America's Next Moon Shot: Internet for Everyone

Almost every great public initiative in America's history, the electrification of rural communities, the creation of the interstate highway system or the 60s-era mission to the moon, started with a powerful vision and the political leadership to get it done.

We need both as we face a challenge to reawaken our democracy and drive economic growth in a world where America's greatest commodity is its people.

This challenge, of course, is delivering high-speed Internet access to everyone.

Internet luminaries speak out for Internet for everyone

And it's no small lift as we have already dug ourselves a hole. Access to broadband today is held in the grip of the cable and phone cartel. This duopoly controls access for more than 98 percent of online American homes. And it's the main reason why American pay far more for much slower speeds than what's available in the rest of the developed world.

Sharing the Broadband Dividend

It has put us at a tremendous disadvantage - one that has been widely documented. But what's alarming is new information about the demographics of access - the so-called "digital divide." According to new analysis by Free Press (my employer), only 35 percent of U.S. homes with less than $50,000 in annual income have a high-speed Internet connection.

And the broadband dividend is not paying out equally. Only 40 percent of racial and ethnic minority households in the United States have access to broadband, while 55 percent of non-Hispanic white households are connected.

"The digital divide is alive and well," Van Jones, the founder of Green For All, said during yesterday's launch of InternetforEveryone.org - a new initiative to solve America's gaping broadband access problems. "There's a whole section of people who have not even caught up to where we are now and are in grave danger of being left behind."

According to Jones, this has dire consequences for one's ability to vote, to be a part of the economy and, even, to survive - he mentioned the deaths of migrant farm workers, who didn't receive Web-based emergency notices in time to escape last year's wildfires in California.

Like Hot Water

"Why Internet for all? I think Internet access is required for full participation in society today. Maybe it's not as basic as water, but it's definitely as basic as hot water," Robin Chase, the founder of Zipcar, said.

According to Chase, Internet access is fundamental to maintaining a high quality of life and for addressing such pressing social problems as America's energy dependency.

Getting Beyond Rhetoric

Returning to the top of international rankings would translate into millions of new jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars in increased economic activity for the United States.

For good reason, other developed countries have enacted comprehensive national plans to connect more of their citizens to a fast, affordable and open Internet. The U.S. doesn't have a plan or the leadership to get it done.

We do have national broadband rhetoric, though. In 2004, President Bush pledged "to have a universal, affordable access for broadband technology by the year 2007."

As if on cue, last year, Mr. Bush's chief Internet officer, John Kneuer, declared "mission accomplished" -- that all the international surveys were misleading and that the "free market" had ensured that Americans across the country enjoy real choice in high-speed Internet access.

What he and his White House compatriots refuse to acknowledge, though, is that a free market approach for Internet services in the U.S. is a chimera. The only hand in play here belongs to the phone and cable duopoly and a government that's been held in their thrall for too long.

The real solution is a little more nuanced.

Neanderthals and the Three Legged Stool

During the launch of InternetforEveryone.org, FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein described himself as a "frustrated policymaker" in Washington. "At the FCC I have a stack of proposals on my desk about a national broadband policy," he said. "What we're lacking is the leadership to actually implement those policies."

Adelstein looks at a successful broadband plan as a three-legged stool:

"You have businesses, who will invest and drive deployment, you have the government on all levels hopefully working in concert, and then you have the public both directly involved and through public interest groups like this coalition."

"This is social infrastructure," Professor Larry Lessig said:

"What's bizarre about where we are in the history of building infrastructure is that this is the first time we have tried to undertake the building of fundamental social infrastructure against the background of a Neanderthal philosophy, which is that you don't need government to do anything.

"That Neanderthal philosophy has governed for about the last eight years, and it has allowed us to slide from a leader in this field to an abysmal position. And it's about time when people recognize that of course the private sector has a role, a central role, maybe the most important role, but it's never enough.

Making it Happen

InternetforEveryone.org is bringing together public interest and for-profit institutions to raise public awareness of the digital divide and spark the political will to address this massive problem.

Closing the broadband digital divide should have been a real national priority for the past eight years. We can't afford NOT to make it a priority for the next eight. While our status as world technology leader went into free fall, Congress sat on the sidelines and the White House ducked and dodged.

There's a reason for that. Getting everyone connected is a political issue at its core. The policy process has been dominated thus far by the broadband incumbents and their well-heeled lobbyists. These companies prefer our lagging Internet status quo to public involvement, choice and real innovation.

And the community that uses the Internet is only now beginning to get organized to guide the debates that will shape its future. We clearly need to do more organizing with the tens of millions of people in communities that can't access the Web.

Getting us back on top will require a national broadband framework that is supported by those beyond the Beltway - who stand to gain the most from a national broadband agenda that promotes access, choice, openness and innovation. And we need bold leadership willing to reject the conventional political wisdom and explore real solutions.

Comments

[WorkingClass]

The whole country has crappy internet because of a hand full of rich people. The whole country has crappy health care because of a hand full of rich people. Sooner or later *we* are going to have to show them who is boss.

[Woofer58]

Try to remember that In the US..NOTHING gets done unless there is either a profit to be made or a tax write-off or a government hand-out to be had. Doing something that is inherently good just to help your fellow man is not an American "thing" anymore. Think: the medical industry... need I elaborate ?

For a great many Americans tough times are happening and/or getting worse. It's truly tough to watch the older generation trying to live on a fixed income (like mine) that doesn't come close to being adjusted to the everyday reality of runaway inflation.

I, personally, am looking at dropping internet because it's too expensive for me. Tough sh*t, huh ? Well, it's a toss up with buying food. Internet is good, but has no nutritional value. I will miss it dearly... been doing this since I had a Commodore-64, hooked to a 2400 baud modem, and going into QuantamLink, UseNet, and a bazillion BBS's.

I'll miss the socialization the most. Then the news, HuffPo, streaming video, images from everywhere, and, yes, even some porno. WTF... the internet is fascinating at every level. It is, with the exception of commercialization, a representation of everything good thing about humanity.

Maybe I can get a laptop (somehow) and pirate WiFi ...

[vippy]

Then again there are those, especially Republicans, who claim we have only 5% unemployment,
the economy is still great, etc. etc.
I know our inflation is sky high, one sees it when buying food and utilities. Also jobs count as
fulltime though

[RumiSouth]

I've been saying for years that we need a broadband expansion modeled on Rural Electrification, the most successful government program in history. But that would make too much sense.

[sufi66]

All our instant internet information has not improved the quality of our lives. We still have not learned to think critically to solve our problems.

Like TV, the internet is simply a great device to sell dubious things to each other. As Al Smith once said: no matter how thin you slice it, it's still bologna.

[yodaveg]

The Internet is a medium which, like TV, is neither inherently good nor bad. It is not enough to make sure it's available. We must encourage its use for positive purposes. To this end, we should begin by making sure every child has Internet access at school. Education is the best way to lift people out of poverty. And it will help address the issues of American competitiveness.

The moon program was PR"at a time when national morale truly needed building. National morale is once again at a nadir. How do we rebuild it and restore our belief in ourselves? Fix our reputation in the world with a sane foreign policy, and restore the constitution here at home. Make us proud of our country again.

[VeggieCar]

One answer is allowing decent wireless. The WIFI currently allowed by the FCC is pathetic. Repeaters needed every 300 feet. This will not work in rural areas, and barely works in dense cities. Right now, those that own the wires coming into your house dictate the price of broadband. Higher power WIFI would change everything.

There is no reason good broadband should be more than $10 a month...(distributed wirelessly) while still allowing providers to make a profit.

[Krikkit]

Net neutrality is the most important fight that most people aren't aware of. Upgrading the infrastructure is a part of that fight, too. Problem is, since most people don't even know about how important it is, most people aren't putting pressure on their congress critters to get it done.

Nothing happens if we don't make it happen. We need to act before congress gets savvy to the fact that the net is putting power in the hands of ordinary people and moves to restrict access for that very reason.

This should be the netroots primary cause right now, not the FISA chatter.

[Uselessboy]

America's next "Moon Shot" would be to restore its Constitution by the end of the century, and return it home safely.

[Tergenev]

#1 Moon shot - Restore the Constitution

#2 Moon shot - Actually do a new moon shot, and then a Mars shot, and a permanent presence on both

[KillTheMessenger]

People attach too much importance to high speed internet. It is not a technology problem but simply a matter of cost. It's between $500-$1000 a year to have residential high speed internet in the US. For many families that is simply not affordable. My best guess is that the digital divide simply mirrors the economic divide in the US. Since Western Europe and Japan have a much more homogeneous income distributions, high speed is available to more people.

The more cultural aspect might be found in Asian nations where learning and competitiveness are deeply rooted and governments will invest in making new technology available to all citizens and parents will invest in giving their children the best possible start. But the more important aspect of that are good schools, not just fast internet connections.

[vcsmith]

In other words, its not a shortage of high speed internet, its a shortage of free high speed internet.

More seriously, you make an excellent point. We need to examine how we define education. The need has grown past reading, writing, and arithmetic. And it can't stop at grade 12 or college. Its forever.

[Tria]

I'd like to see legislation making high-speed internet available at reasonable cost to people who just want the high-speed connection. As it is now, many high-speed internet providers have local monopolies and can get away with requiring "bundle" contracts that force the high-speed internet customer to also sign up for cell phone and cable TV services from the same internet provider. In other words, the high-speed internet monopolies can legally refuse providing high-speed internet (at reasonable cost) to any customer who doesn't want or need cell phone and cable TV contracts added to their monthly charge.

[RoseMerry]

Internet for everyone. Right. It is sooo much easier than a home for everyone, or food for everyone, or even health care for everyone. Or gawdforbid, everyone gets a decent education and learns how to reason and think criticality - we can't have THAT!

Methinks thy priorities are...just WRONG!!!!!

[Krikkit]

That's because you haven't yet realized the power inherent in instant communications. Used properly, internet for everyone would make all those other tasks easier to accomplish. This isn't a matter of misplaced priorities, but about who has access to power and who does not.

[SeriousBlack]

The sad thing is that doing such a thing isn't even equivalent to a "moon shot". Far from it. It's not that hard to provide known technology to everybody (unlike the moon shot effort, which required inventing any number of completely new technologIES within a 6 or 7 year period).

[WorkingClass]

The "moon shot" is breaking the grip of the phone and cable monopolies.

[Viper]

I'm for internet for everyone. The money for that&every nicety went out the window with the money wasted on the Iraqi war, dollar devaluation , oil/$135 per barrel speculation, the price of milk&other food items. Something no one repeats enough about the WAR... No theyDont paymore in Europe when you add the WARcosts to the price of gas.

Your theory is flawed. Last year Amercia graduated twice as many high tech college graduates as hitech jobs created in the U.S...Whats worse 80% of those jobs were filled by H1B foreign work permits leaving about 75% of our graduates w/o jobs... working at Chillies etc.

You can educate the people, but unless you solve the problem that the jobs are being outsourced to China and India where the pay is 1/10 to 1/20th as much. The number of jobs being created in the U.S. is now very low&then of those jobs left we are insourcing cheap labor that works for 40% less! Once trained here, after several years they go back to their home country... and the really cheap labor is then hired there.

Given the numbers of Chinese& Indian graudates, there is a huge oversupply that will last for the next 100years..unless you find away to keep the Jobs here, the pay up and have the job filled by U.S. citizens.

The lower taxes caused investment in Asia, not here as indicated by the anemic job creation.

Regards

[KillTheMessenger]

And please keep in mind that many jobs in the military industrial sector require security clearence and are not available to me or any other foreigner. Those are purely American enterprises. So if there is an "unfair" employment advantage, it's for Americans, not us.

The 1/10th or 1/20th pay in China and India for technology people with degrees is a myth. The best quotes I ever got from there were on the 30-40% level of US employees and it was not clear how productive those projects would have been, so the total cost advantage is questionable, at least on a small scale. The engineer gets paid less, of course, but the companies that employ them and rent them out take a share. In any case, the chip design tool costs the same $250k in India as it does in the US, so there is not that much of advantage there, either.

This is my own experience as a worker in the high tech business. Maybe reality on average is very different. But I don't think so.

[KillTheMessenger]

I can not imagine that America graduates too many high tech workers because I have not seen them in the workforce. One company I worked for years ago was hiring and not one American showed up. And that was not because of the salary (mine was more than good). Now, we are talking about university educated folk like EEs with chip design experience here, and not your average web designer. But web design is not high tech.

My current company hires mostly PhDs. And there are not too many of those, either. I came over from Germany to work for a national laboratory. 40% of the scientists at the lab were foreigners and today it's probably closer to 50%. Of course, 100% of the secretaries were American. I guess that says something.

[Krikkit]

There's a correlation there between the cuts in funding for higher education over the past decade. Our government has done a lot to damage us recently, including restricting access to higher education, and thus to higher paying jobs.

[jvarga]

If I had realized how poor I would be, I probably would have stopped at the bachelor's degree, perhaps a MS. But nooo, I had to be stupid and get a PhD just so I could have artificially suppressed wages (thanks NIH post-doc pay scale) which are then supported by the mass importation of foreign post-docs under the H1B program.

[vcsmith]

There is no tax incentive for job creation, everything else, not employment. This seems like a safe starting point for the candidates and their proposed tax plans, but they do not see it. Nobody sees the little guy, he's just invisible.

[gage]

Looks like a good project.

BTW, McCain made these remarks in rural kentucky in April:

"The modern economy offers new opportunities for communities like Inez. In particular, through access to high-speed Internet services that facilitate interstate commerce, drive innovation, and promote educational achievements, there is the potential to change lives. These kinds of transformations of our way of life require the infrastructure of modern communication, and government has a role to play in assuring every community in America can develop that infrastructure. This country has a long history of ensuring that rural areas have the same access to communication technology as other places. ...

I think we should establish a "People Connect Program" that rewards companies that offer high-speed Internet access services to underserved, low-income customers by allowing these companies to write off the cost of this service. The government should enlist the help of private/public partnerships to devise creative and successful solutions to the lack of access to information technology. In many places, cities and towns are working with businesses that have experience providing high-speed Internet services to share the cost of building and improving that service. Where companies are unwilling to build information infrastructure, the federal government can support towns through government-backed loans or by issuing bonds with a low interest rate.

An aggressive effort to knit together all of the United States with 21st century information networks will make location less of a factor in the potential for economic success."