Saturday, April 14, 2012

Open, fast Internet fading in USA?

USA is behind other countries when it comes to broadband access (15th place) and Internet speed (23d place).

There's a digital divide in our country whereby middle-class kids like my daughters grew up with fast Web-accessed computers in the home, while kids in rural areas and inner cities don't have computers or fast Internet.

In 2009, big Internet providers such as Verizon, Comcast, AT&T DID NOT APPLY for any of the billions in federal stimulus grants for expanding broadband infrastructure, according to the Wall St. Journal, because recipients of our tax money had to agree to respect Net Neutrality or Internet non-discrimination.

In August 2010, Keith Olbermann did a segment about Net Neutrality on his now-defunct show on MSNBC. Olbermann exited MSNBC as it was being taken over by Net Neut-foe Comcast. (Here's Jon Stewart's Net Neutrality segment from the same period.)

P.S. I was asked to appear on a talk-radio show on a big city station to analyze Oblermann's exit from MSNBC; when I suggested a link to the Comcast takeover and criticized Comcast's opposition to Net Neutrality, a producer asked me during a commercial break to stop the "Comcast-bashing" because "they're our biggest sponsor."

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