FCC Broadband Proposal: too little, too late, too timid
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From: John Navas on 16 Mar 2010 17:19 F.C.C. Says Adoption of New Broadband Plan Is Vital The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday characterized its Congressionally mandated �national broadband plan� as a much-needed step for keeping the United States competitive. The proposal, which the agency sent to Congress on Tuesday, �is necessary to meet the challenges of global competitiveness, and harness the power of broadband to help address so many vital national issues,� the agency chairman, Julius Genachowski, said in a statement. The 376-page plan reflects the view that broadband Internet is becoming the common medium of the United States, gradually displacing the telephone and broadcast television. But many of the recommendations will require Congressional action, and may take years to put in place. Some proposals will probably face resistance from the telecommunication giants, which over time may face new competition for customers. Already, the broadcast television industry is resisting a proposal to auction off some of its spectrum so that it can be redirected toward mobile Internet technologies. The plan broadly seeks a 90 percent broadband adoption rate in the United States by 2020, up from roughly 65 percent. The reasons for being unwired vary: some cannot access it at their homes, some cannot afford it and some choose not to have it. Recommendations include subsidies to extend broadband to rural areas now without access, the development of a new universal set-top box that would connect to the Internet and cable service and the formation of a �digital literacy corps� to provide skills training. The plan also includes a faster-Internet initiative that theoretically would equip 100 million households with 100-megabit-a-second access by the end of this decade. According to comScore, the average subscriber now receives speeds of three to four megabits a second. MORE: <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/technology/17broadband.html> The Proposal: <http://www.broadband.gov/>
From: Jonz on 16 Mar 2010 17:57 On 3/16/2010 2:19 PM, John Navas wrote: > F.C.C. Says Adoption of New Broadband Plan Is Vital > [snippy] John has finally found his niche - regurgitating old news. Jonz
From: John Higdon on 16 Mar 2010 19:15 In article <hnousq$4b1$1(a)speranza.aioe.org>, Jonz <no.one(a)ishome.com> wrote: > On 3/16/2010 2:19 PM, John Navas wrote: > > F.C.C. Says Adoption of New Broadband Plan Is Vital > > > [snippy] > > John has finally found his niche - regurgitating old news. Some years ago. -- John Higdon +1 408 ANdrews 6-4400 AT&T-Free At Last
From: seaweedsl on 17 Mar 2010 10:43 On Mar 16, 3:57 pm, Jonz <no....(a)ishome.com> wrote: > On 3/16/2010 2:19 PM, John Navas wrote:> F.C.C. Says Adoption of New Broadband Plan Is Vital > > [snippy] > > John has finally found his niche - regurgitating old news. > > Jonz I've never had a problem with it, nor needed to harass for it. Serves me, more or less. Far more informative than the spam on this group. Cheers, Steve
From: Bob on 17 Mar 2010 12:35
On 17/03/2010 14:43, seaweedsl wrote: > On Mar 16, 3:57 pm, Jonz<no....(a)ishome.com> wrote: >> On 3/16/2010 2:19 PM, John Navas wrote:> F.C.C. Says Adoption of New Broadband Plan Is Vital >> >> [snippy] >> >> John has finally found his niche - regurgitating old news. >> >> Jonz > > > > I've never had a problem with it, nor needed to harass for it. Serves > me, more or less. Far more informative than the spam on this group. > > Cheers, > Steve This from M.J.Copps applies to a lot of countries and not just the US. "But an increase of technology does not by itself guarantee a more informed citizenry. A 2009 study indicates that, as a country, we now consume in excess of 1.3 trillion hours of media per year. Yet the production and distribution of essential news and information content has never been more in doubt. The same hyper-speculation and consolidation that wreaked such havoc on so much of our economy began early with media, and the destruction was compounded by the almost complete dismantlement of public interest oversight of our broadcast stations, decimating news, newsrooms and news media. A new Pew Research Center report shows a 50 per cent decline in network news reporting and editing capacity since the 1980s and a 30 per cent drop for newspapers since 2000. The pink slips that have replaced pay stubs for so many thousands of beat journalists and the evaporating state of watchdog journalism have left us, to be frank, on a starvation diet when it comes to nourishing our democratic dialogue. A serving of America�s daily news and information is about 500 calories short of a healthy meal. Opinion should feed on facts, not on more opinion�and right now, neither our traditional nor our new media is supplying the nourishment we need to maintain the health of the body politic. If we don�t tread carefully we will have a society with plenty of fat-filled chatter but not enough of the protein of facts, terabytes of opinion but an empty cup of investigatory journalism to tell us what�s really going on, information aplenty about celebrities and weather but a famine of real local, national and international news. And this is not just about the future�it�s about the present,too." <http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-296889A1.pdf> |