MuniNetworks

The Chair of the Federal Communications Commission has taken a stand for network neutrality – the founding principle of openness of the Internet. In short, network neutrality means the entity providing you access to the Internet cannot interfere with the sites you choose to visit – it cannot speed them up or slow them down in order to increase their profits.  

Because most Americans get access to the Internet from large, absentee-owned profit-maximizing companies who are often de facto monopolies, we have to beware the gulf between community interests and the narrow interests of these companies. 

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As the Federal Communications Commission creates a National Broadband Plan for the United States, it will have to decide whether to revise its definition of broadband.  On one side, ILSR and others demand a robust definition to encourage greater network infrastructure investment.  On the other, telecommunications companies want to keep the existing definition so they can claim they serve nearly everyone. 

In all the wrangling over how we should define broadband, I wanted to step back and remember why the definition itself is so important. 

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Montana’s Great Falls Tribune has an article that examines a community success story from Cleveland and the greater NE Ohio region.

Instead of going to Hollywood to see what the future may hold, go to Cleveland. It’s here you’ll find an example of a community with five years of experience in creating a regional fiber-optic network that connects more than 1,000 organizations — hospitals, school districts, governments, museums, libraries and other public and nonprofit organizations.

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