As part of the economic stimulus legislation (ARRA), Congress charged the FCC with creating a National Broadband Plan by next February.
 
The Commission has called for "maximum civic engagement" in developing a broadband strategy, reflecting input from all stakeholders.  Initial comments have been filed and now it's the public's turn to contribute their views and ideas.
 
To encourage public input, the New America Foundation is joining forces with Google to launch a Google Moderator page to aggregate public opinion on this critical policy issue. Google Moderator provides the general public with a forum to submit and vote on ideas you think the Commission should include in its National Broadband Plan.
 
After two weeks, Google and NAF will take the most popular and most innovative ideas and submit them to the official record at the FCC on your behalf.
 
We hope you will post your views on Google Moderator - and also forward this to your contacts and constituents. 
 
We can all help answer the FCC's call for input from stakeholders 'outside the beltway,' including "industry, American consumers; large and small businesses; federal, state, local, and tribal governments; and disabled communities."  
 
Among the key elements of a national broadband plan under consideration:
 

• The most effective and efficient ways to ensure ubiquitous broadband access for all Americans;
• Strategies for achieving affordability and maximum utilization of broadband infrastructure and services;
• Evaluation of the status of broadband deployment, including the progress of related grant programs;
• How to use broadband to advance consumer welfare, civic participation, public safety and homeland security, community development, health care delivery, energy efficiency, education, worker training, entrepreneurial activity, job creation and other national purposes.

As Commissioner Michael Copps noted, "Broadband can be the great enabler that . . . opens doors of opportunity for all Americans to pass through, no matter who they are, where they live, or the particular circumstances of their individual lives."  A national broadband plan promises far-reaching consequences for economic growth and equal opportunity across all sectors for decades to come.
 
You can join the discussion at: http://moderator.appspot.com/#16/e=a4977

For media requests, please contact Kate Brown, Media Relations Manager, at 202-596-3365(w) or 202-213-7051(m). 

New America's Wireless Future Program develops and advocates policy proposals aimed at achieving universal and affordable wireless broadband access, expanding public access to the airwaves and updating our nation's communications infrastructure in the digital era. For more information, visit http://www.newamerica.net/programs/wireless_future.

About the New America Foundation
The New America Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute that invests in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the United States.