Wired News: Broadband Fight Heads to Congress

The status of the telephone lines as "common carriers" has been essential to the development of the communications infrastructure that set the USA apart and often ahead of other nations during the 20th century and the age of Industrial Production. Now in the 21st century, our government seems poised to send us back a century and position us poorly in the global move to a wired world in the age of Information and Communication. Coupled with the Grokster case, Grokster: Why You Should Care | Bayosphere> we see the lobbying power of big money and big business working for its profit at the expense of our economy and the future of our country. The USA is falling further behind many other nations in the percentage of its population with access to broadband communication. In the effort to placate corporations, our legislators and courts are headed backwards. By charging too much and limiting access to Internet, our nation will suffer educationally, economically, and our "brain drain" as described by Richard Florida in Flight of the Creative Class will begin in earnest. By paying attention to what the FCC is doing and writing to them (they are very influenced by citizen comment) and by writing to your senators and congresmen, you can help stop this move to hold our techno-social development back in the name of short-term profit.Wired News: Broadband Fight Heads to Congress: the legislative/judicial hand is on the "the trigger that reversed a century of communications policy and undermines the bedrock principle of democratic media, which is nondiscriminatory access for all.' The Grokster decision warrants a close watch. Is it going to be used simply to fight illegal taking of copyrighted material or will it be used to stifle new technologies and open source kind of initiatives? The new economic models that tap into the collective wisdom could be crippled by measures that confuse the physical manifestation of an idea with the idea and its use.