(CNSNews.com) - Rich or poor, disabled or healthy, young or old – the Obama administration says every American should have access to high-speed Internet in their own homes, even if it costs American taxpayers billions of dollars to accomplish that goal.
Universal broadband access is a key element of the Federal Communications Commissions' national broadband plan, which will be delivered to President Obama and the Congress on March 16.
On Wednesday, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, an Obama appointee, frowned on recent price hikes by broadband providers, calling it an “ominous” sign at a time when the government hopes to give all Americans access to high-speed Internet in their homes.
“This is an issue we must examine closely going forward," Clyburn said in a statement posted on the FCC Web site. She noted that 36 percent of people who do not have Internet service at home cite cost as a main reason.
"Across-the-board price increases, especially on those who can least afford it, should raise a red flag for the Commission," Clyburn said. "When prices rise across the industry, and where there are only a limited number of players in the game, we have to ask ourselves whether there is any meaningful competition in the marketplace."
Clyburn also objected to suggestions that broadband providers will roll out faster speeds only in the few markets where they have competition. If that happens, "our fears about whether meaningful competition exists should grow," she said. "If we fail to think deeply about these issues, consumers will suffer, and low-income Americans in particular will be left long behind.”
According to the FCC, an estimated 93 million Americans currently do not have Internet service (broadband) at home. The Democrat-passed stimulus bill charged the FCC with developing a strategy to bring high-speed Internet to all Americans.
Commissioner Clyburn said the national broadband plan will recommend the creation of a National Digital Literacy Corps to help people on the wrong side of the digital divide develop the skills they need to be comfortable on-line and to take full advantage of all it has to offer.
In a speech on Tuesday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski called broadband a "major infrastructure challenge," just as roads, canals, railroads and telephones were for previous generations. "Broadband is a platform for opportunity and economic growth," he said.
Among other things, Genachowski said the national broadband plan will "recommend the formation of an interagency working group to coordinate policies that promote broadband adoption by people with disabilities."
Moreover, “Delivering on the promise of equal access to the broadband infrastructure will require ongoing commitment and resources from both the public and private sectors,” he said.
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call me roy (1 day ago)
Just a couple of simple questions. We are broke, right? The states are closing schools as fast as the Administrators can get the approval from the Teachers Unions. So who is going to pay for this? The Communist Chinese are not going to loan us any more money. OK, we are all agreed on that. Secondly, the only way the government can get more money is either to raise taxes or help create more jobs, NOT government jobs, they don't count. Ok, we are all agreed on that. So, we need to create more private sector jobs. There is only one way to do that. The Communist Chinese send us hundreds of billions of dollars of contaminated junk and they don't buy anything from us. These globalist liars that tell you we have to have international trade are wrong. They will tell you that we have to have fair trade. We have never fair trade. If we don't fix this, our country will fail. It's only taken a decade of these failures to bring us here and now. We have all been lied to again and again.
jrobinson (2 days ago)
The worst part is what comes next: when the government is your ISP; whatever you do online can become a federal crime. You think you'll be downloading music? Movies? Just wait! Today, if Sony catches you downloading a movie, they have to subpoena your ISP to get your name to file a civil suit in court. Now they'll just be able to call the police... who will come in your home and take all your hardware. But don't worry if you don't have govt broadband service... I'm sure the govt will claim it is all their business anyway because at some point it'll pass through their networks.
tuffone03 (2 days ago)
See the pretty trinket? It's freeeeee! Now just bend over...
ReadWryt (2 days ago)
Uuuuuuh, did I miss something somewhere? Is there some Right to Internet inscribed in that invisible part of the Constitution that contains the "Penumbra" of something in there?? I mean, you could argue that this is covered under the Commerce Clause, I suppose. If they can tell a farmer that he can't feed the grain he grew on his property to his own cattle under the Agricultural Adjustments Act than I suppose it's possible to pretend that Internet Access is a right, like power and water, and therefor SHOULD then be handled by the PUC and not the FCC. I suppose next is Basic Cable in regions where the new and harder to receive Digital Television broadcasts are spotty...The Cable T.V. industry should be crapping themselves right now...
lel2007 (2 days ago)
That part where obama's gang talks about industry cooperating to make internet available to everyone, I think that's more of 'spread the wealth'. No wonder broadband providers are raising rates, they know what's coming. And besides controlling communications, obama will have a solid grasp on Commerce.
lel2007 (2 days ago)
More of obama's Social Justice I presume. So, we have, or soon will have, government controlled Banking & Finance, Industry (GM & Chry), National Health Care, National Energy Resources, Water Rights, and Communications Systems. I hope I wake up before this nightmare destroys the Constitution and America.
rkeyo (2 days ago)
Hey, folks. This ain't simply gov't. largesse with your pesetas. With the Federal Police and NSA monitoring all Internet traffic, they must be having orgasms at the idea of EVERYONE online, sending personal emails they don't know AREN'T private. And can reverse webcams be too too far off? 1984 on steroids...
websmith (2 days ago)
The only places that don't have broadband available are areas where it economically or physically impossible due to the structure of the atom. Broadband is available in 95% of the country at competitive and reasonable rates, but people are not buying it and the more people that the government puts out of work, the more service that is being canceled. Even before the government destroyed the economy, only 60% of the population was buying broadband in the areas that it is available. Telephone lines, including broadband, are owned by private companies. This is a blatant attempt by a socialist administration to issue mandates that can't possibly be met in order to give the government an excuse to take over the telecommunications industry. http://bit.ly/aqFvO
liberty76 (2 days ago)
Oh yeah, now this is a "right" too. The g'ment will oversee it, then watch all content, then watch what you are doing on the broadband. Man-o-man, the fascists of the 20th century couldn't even dream about such control.
MrPete (2 days ago)
If this goes forward, it will likely turn out similar to publicly funded mass transit: Mass transit doesn't pay for itself. Thus, the more people who use it, the more we must invest in the infrastructure...and the more money it loses. Similarly, if the gov't forces providers to allow everyone to have access at low cost without limitations (that's another rule they are trying to impose), then broadband also will be a money-loser. And will kill it for everyone. This administration simply does NOT understand economics. SOMEbody has to pay!
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