Community and Municipal Broadband

As the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) continues to gather input into the National Broadband Plan it will report back to Congress in February, competition policy remains among the most contentious issues. In addition, the Chairman on Monday announced his intention to codify the FCC's existing four open Internet principles, along with two additional principles to prohibit discrimination against particular Internet applications and content and ensure that providers are transparent about network management practices.

As the Internet has evolved -- moving from a relatively small set of networks used by researchers to a worldwide platform used by over a billion people -- its performance has become harder to analyze and understand. Researchers lack access to critical data about the current state of broadband networks, and users can find it difficult or impossible to understand the performance and characteristics of their Internet connections.

In an unprecedented display of consensus, a broad and diverse array of groups concerned about America's broadband future released a Call to Action that provides President-elect Obama and the incoming Congress a policy framework for a comprehensive national broadband strategy.

NOTE: Due to a last-minute scheduling conflict, Douglas Holtz-Eakin is unable to participate in today's event, and the McCain campaign will not be sending an alternate spokesperson. The event will proceed as scheduled with Reed Hundt representing the Obama campaign.

The next president is going to face a host of pressing questions involving technology:

Why is the United States falling behind the rest of the world in broadband access, and how can we reverse that? What should our immigration policy be for… more