The Atlantic has an interesting commentary that looks at the issue of broadband policy beyond narrow business interests. While I may not agree in the prescriptions presented, the commentary does remind us that there is a world beyond private business interests and economic costs & benefits that needs to be considered in broadband policy development.
The past 50 years have seen sizzling and explosive advances in technology. Fifty years ago, the FCC regulated telephone service that came by wire, and television service that came through the air. Today, as MIT’s Nicholas Negroponte predicted, these services are mostly reversed. The next 50 years will see even more technological miracles, including the marriage of computers, television, telephony, and the Internet. What we need, to accompany these changes, are critical choices about the values we want to build into our 21st-century communications system—and the public policies to support them. I believe we should commit to six goals in the next 50 years.
The commentary reminded me that some things, such as the right to free speech, are not for sale at any price.
