The United States is facing a crisis in broadband connectivity. The demand for bandwidth is accelerating well beyond the capacity of our current broadband networks, especially as video traffic and home-based businesses become more prevalent. In the very near future, members of a single family will be watching HDTV video at the same time that they engage in remote health monitoring, videoconferencing, gaming, distance education class lectures, and social networking. Moore’s Law, as well as several studies of future Internet growth, predicts that homes and businesses will need a minimum of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) of capacity within the next three to five years and will need even greater capacity going forward.
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Science Progress: The Case for Federal Investment in Broadband
The United States will not meet President Bush’s goal of universal broadband by the end of 2007—not by a long shot. The number of subscribers to Internet services is growing faster than the adoption of “dial-up,” yet for the most part these subscribers are not connected to the broadband technology Congress described in 1996 as a two-way communications service capable of high-speed delivery of data, voice, and video.
The ‘ConnectKentucky’ Model: A Limited Step in the Right Direction
Many interested parties have asked me to comment on the emerging controversy surrounding ConnectKentucky/Connected Nation. The controversy involves the extent to which CK/CN is fulfilling its promises. But in my opinion, we should be focusing on an even more important question: What role should “the CK model” play in America’s broadband policy?
Atkinson: Framing a National Broadband Strategy
NTIA: Broadband in America 2007
Broadband technology is changing our lives, our economy and our culture. By making it possible to access, use, and share information, news, and entertainment with ever increasing speed, broadband knits geographically-distant individuals and businesses more closely together, increases our productivity and enriches our quality of life.
Report of the California Broadband Task Force
As a result of Executive Order S-23-06, the California Broadband Task Force has spent the last year identifying opportunities for—and challenges to—broadband deployment and adoption. The enclosed report represents the culmination of that work,including maps of current broadband availability and speed, recommendations to achieve ubiquitous access and increased use, and a timeframe in which to meet these critical goals.
Japan Eyes 10 Gigs by 2010 as United States Sweats 200 Kbps
In Japan today, the “point of competition” is a gigabit, and by 2010 it will be at 10 gigabits, observed telecommunication lawyer and broadband champion Jim Baller as he kicked off the panel “Broadband Policy Imperatives from the Bottom Up” at the 15th Digital Cities Convention in Washington, DC (December 11-12, 2007).
Benton Foundation: Universal Affordable Broadband for All Americans
For more than 200 years, Americans have approached the future the same way that Huck Finn looked a the bend in the river: even though we didn’t know for sure what was coming next, we always had a sense of limitless possibility about where we were going and where it could take us. Americans, whose ideas have changed the world, are the ones who have been able to see around that bend, catch a glimpse of the future, capture its potential, and ensure that all Americans can partake.
Adrian Herbst’s Analyses of FCC Cable Franchising Orders
CALEA online resources
- U.S. Department of Justice / FBI CALEA Website
- FCC General CALEA Website
- FCC Wireline Competition Bureau CALEA Website
- FCC Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau Website
- Cybertelecom CALEA Website
- EDUCAUSE CALEA Website
- Electronic Freedom Foundation CALEA Website
- WISPA CALEA FAQ (Very good!)
- Steven Bellovin, Matt Blaze, Ernest Brickell, Clinton Brooks, Vinton Cerf, Whitfield Diffie, Susan Ladau, Jon Peterso, and John Treichler, Security Implications of Applying the Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act to Voice over IP (June 2006)
- Steven M. Bellovin, Matt Blaze, and Susan Landau, The Real National-Security Needs for VoIP (November 2005)
Broadband in Cities and Towns – Columbia, SC, October 30, 2007
CALEA Mandate Affects Broadband Providers Nationwide
By Casey Lide. Published in the NATOA Journal, fall 2007
“In late 2006, following a decision by the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in American Council on Education v. FCC, broadband service providers nationwide were suddenly presented with a new and extensive federal mandate. Under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (CALEA), by May 14, 2007 facilities-based broadband and VoIP service providers were to ensure that their networks are technically capable of providing certain surveillance capabilities to law enforcement, potentially at great expense, or face the prospect of incurring a fine of up to $10,000 per day. Over the intervening months, those service providers who were aware of
the new requirements have expended substantial resources simply to determine how and whether to comply, in addition to the direct expense of any technical solution they may be compelled to implement.”
New Developments in Communications Law – Seattle, WA, APPA Legal Conference, October 14, 2007
Corporate-funded research designed to influence public policy
Reports by well-known think tanks and individuals funded by telecoms are helping quash competition, increase phone rates and set up a corporate-oriented Internet system. Is there any reason to trust these reports? Or to trust experts who testify before regulators without revealing the sources of their funding?