The federal government is on the verge of turning over a huge portion of our public airwaves to corporate giants instead of revolutionizing Internet access and making it available to more people at more affordable prices.
Now is the time to speak out to the FCC and sign a petition.
This article appears in May 24-30, 2007.
This main post and the MoveOn.org petition only gives basic information on the issue, simply asking for a sheeplike bleating of “noooo – this is bad”. It would be a disservice not to give a fuller picture. (I refuse to be a sheep).
What is the full story on this issue? Is it relevant to this technology: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070327/fcc_internet_device.html ?
If so, then this opens up a lot of questions, at least for me:
1) How much would bandwidth cost to the government, versus being a voluntary cost for people who choose to purchase the service? (The Libertarian POV)
2) Would it require an antenna, or does it work with existing WiFi? If the latter, who would supply the WiFi cards?
3) If the government is involved in the transport of information, will there be an increase in Internet censorship? (far into the future, this)
4) Will this technology spark an Internet tax or (less likely) e-mail tax, an idea that has been bandied about mildly in Washington for a decade now?
5) In this day and age of ID Theft, what Internet security is applied to these open airwaves??
Basically, what are the pros or cons ?
We know the pros — Internet at less cost for everyone, including people who have no interest in using the Internet (believe me not everyone uses it).
What are the cons ?
I’m not saying this is good or bad, I’m saying that the public should be informed more overall and allowed to decide.