FCC Proposes Plan to Offer Free Wireless Internet Service
The Wall Street Journal reports that the FCC has proposed a plan that would provide free wireless Internet to Americans, but both telecom providers and consumer advocates object to it. Consumer advocates dislike the plan because the service will be required to filter out pornography and material not suitable for children; the telecom providers object for the obvious reasons. The FCC will likely take action on this plan at its December 18 meeting. - K
NPR provided more coverage of the FCC and free Internet; however, they framed it as something that would need to come from Obama's FCC.
What is the position of advocacy groups on this? I think that for DV victims, this could be a life saver assuming access to safe computer. Would also benefit non profits in allowing them easier access to their clients. Would this really get rid of the internet divide for our client groups?
Claudia, I'm not certain that domestic violence and legal advocates have had a chance to really focus on this yet. (There are so many other big issues to focus on right now.) But I would hope that they support the general idea--making Internet access available to everyone regardless of ability to pay or geographic location.
Iin terms of impact, I hope that they look at long-term outcomes in addition to how access to services will be improved. If low-income communities don't have access to the Internet, there will be, and already are, entire conversations that happen without their participation. And as computer skills are essential for most higher paying jobs, people who don't have the opportunity to become comfortable using the Internet are going to be at a disadvantage.
This isn't the magic fix for the divide. People also need hardware to access the Internet and skills training to figure out how to use it. But there are initiatives that are looking at ways to solve these problems, too. For example, One Laptop Per Child has developed an extremely cheap laptop for poor children.
CNet News reports that the FCC canceled their free Internet vote.