jwallace, I understand where you're coming from but if we don't consider both how well others have things in terms of access and speed as well as the increases that will continue to come down the line in terms of bandwidth needs, soon our connection speeds will no longer be adequate. If you go to 7:00 mark in this video, you'll start to understand what I'm talking about http://billmoyers.com/segment/susan-crawford-on-why-u-s-internet-access-is-slow-costly-and-unfair/
Maybe when smartphones become truly ubiquitous -- we'll be able to have a nationwide network of wifi connected smartphones that will serve as a public internet?
Perhaps the USPS should become an ISP and deliver govt-powered emails instead of physical mail.... but that would be a really tricky service for the govt to provide.
Thanks for sharing that WSJ piece, Gerad, which I had missed. We do see private enterprise stepping into the gap, somewhat, as a competitive measure. Many restaurants and low to mid-market hotels/motels provide free WiFi these days, and I know some cable companies offer hotspots in their coverage areas to subscribers. These are all good steps--but your blog also pointed out how far behind the US is in terms of speed, something that is really odd considering the technological smarts we're so fortunate to have here.
After reading a few comments I can see I was confusing the issue with government being involved. As has been pointed out the Utility companies are not government run. If making the internet a utility meant some kind of regulation then that could be a good thing. As far as making it available to all don't we already do that? I mean some need to get satellite or god forbid, Dialup maybe... if that's still around... but you can get it. Advancements in getting it to the parts of the country that needs to use those afore mentioned technologies would be the first step.
Great point Alison, there was actually a great piece that covered this topic in the Wall Street Journal where kids were going to McDonalds to use the free WiFi to get their school work done!
I would agree, if there was a free market competition the charges coming from ISPs would be lower than what we have been paying. Local ISPs are getting the services from regional or national service providers and they are the ones that keep the process high. The government can subsidize it but quality of service may suffer on those cases.
When you think about public education, children need home-based broadband access. I don't know about you, but where I live library hours have been slashed due to infamous "budget cuts." On some days (including Monday and Saturday), the library closes at 5. Middle school students get home at about 4:30; high school kids get home around 4. Obviously, those children who don't have broadband at home are in trouble when it comes to doing research. If we're serious about empowering children to break away from cycles of poverty then we have to give them basic tools, and these days they need more than being able just to read and write. They need Internet access, too.
I don't think it needs to be in public hands to be public utility, in the sense intended by the blog. Electricity, telephones are in private hands in the States. I actually don't know the mechanism by which they're mandated to serve the entire country: I assume they are.
The ThinkerNet does not reflect the views of TechWeb. The ThinkerNet is an informal means of communication to members and visitors of the Internet Evolution site. Individual authors are chosen by Internet Evolution to blog. Neither Internet Evolution nor TechWeb assume responsibility for comments, claims, or opinions made by authors and ThinkerNet bloggers. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
The US National Security Agency learned the hard way that it can be dangerous to give a contractor too much money and access, with too little scrutiny. The NSA and other government agencies hire tens of thousands of contractors
a year to analyze data. Edward Snowden -- who revealed himself as the NSA leaker after fleeing the country -- was one such contractor, reportedly holding a $122,000 salaried position at Booz Allen Hamilton at the time of his departure.
Midsize businesses rarely achieve the same standards of security in their own datacenters as professional providers that specialize in delivering these services to organizations.
Big-data and analytics tools enable marketers to understand customers as individuals, identifying unmet needs and addressing each customer as a "segment of one," says John Kennedy, VP corporate marketing, IBM.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit in Monaco kicked into high gear today, and we've already begun to see news emerging from that lovely city-state by the sea.
Expert Integrated Systems: Changing the Experience & Economics of IT In this e-book, we take an in-depth look at these expert integrated systems -- what they are, how they work, and how they have the potential to help CIOs achieve dramatic savings while restoring IT's role as business innovator. READ THIS eBOOK
your weekly update of news, analysis, and
opinion from Internet Evolution - FREE! REGISTER HERE
Wanted! Site Moderators Internet Evolution is looking for a handful of readers to help moderate the message boards on our site – as well as engaging in high-IQ conversation with the industry mavens on our thinkerNet blogosphere. The job comes with various perks, bags of kudos, and GIANT bragging rights. Interested?
To save this item to your list of favorite Internet Evolution content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
