Category: Other Materials

New America Foundation event on Capitol Hill to introduce Baller Herbst paper

Although the U.S. once led the world in Internet deployment and innovation, our nation continues to plummet in international rankings in terms of broadband adoption, speeds and costs. As a result, there is growing support for an affirmative national broadband policy to promote more affordable and ubiquitous access to high-bandwidth connectivity. 

Cathy Swirbul’s extensive interview of Jim Baller

Last year, when few in the public arena were talking about a national broadband strategy for the United States, Jim Baller and his law partner, Casey Lide, wrote two extensive articles making the case for such a strategy and setting forth an eight-step plan to develop one. Since then, an avalanche of discussion on the issue has emerged—and Baller was named the community broadband visionary of the year by the National Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) “for almost single-handedly putting the issue of America’s need for a national broadband strategy at the forefront of public consciousness.

“Support for a national broadband strategy is growing rapidly across America,” said Baller, a founder of the Community Broadband Coalition and an attorney specializing in communications law. “Individuals and organizations representing a broad cross-section of American life have now called for a national broadband strategy, including the American Public Power Association, NATOA, the National League of Cities, EDUCAUSE, Public Technology Institute, Free Press, Communications Workers of America, and many others. So, too, have many leading high technology companies and organizations, including the Fiber to the Home Council, Amazon, Cisco, COMTEL, Google, and many more. At times, even incumbents Verizon and AT&T have supported the development of a national strategy.”

US ranks 15th in ITIF’s composite ranking

It is hard to follow broadband telecommunications policy without hearing almost weekly that the United States ranks 15th out of 30 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations in broadband adoption. But it is much less apparent why the United States is behind. Indeed, relatively little work has been done to understand why some nations are ahead, and why some, like the United States, are lagging. By examining OECD nations through statistical analysis and in-depth case studies of nine nations, including the United States, this report attempts to do just that.

Slate: Jump-starting our tech policy

Perhaps the only thing that’s actually improved over the last eight years under President Bush is technology (if not tech policy). In the sense that Nixon presided over an age of great films like The Godfather, the Bush era was also the age of Wikipedia, search engines, YouTube, and Facebook. But the Bush system of benign neglect can only go so far, leaving plenty to fix as soon as the next president takes office.

A Framework For A National Broadband Policy

The report pulls together two sets of discussions and an array of background readings to outline a new direction for a U.S. national broadband policy. The Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program convened a top-flight group of academics, policymakers, and industry leaders for two conferences — one on the Wye River in Maryland, May 17-18, 2007, and another in Aspen, Colorado, August 15-18, 2007 — to discuss the future of American broadband policy.

Comparing the broadband positions of the major presidential candidates

Senators Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain differ on many major issues, but when it comes to broadband deployment, they appear to agree on most points, either explicitly or tacitly. To be sure, they do differ in some significant ways, but these differences do not appear to be irreconcilable. 

EDUCAUSE: A Blueprint for Big Broadband

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.

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?