In the News: Christopher Mitchell
April 17th, 2018
Media Outlet: KGNU
In mid-April, ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks initiative director Christopher Mitchell, took a trip to Boulder, Colorado to speak at a conference hosted by the University of Colorado at Boulder as well as a community event called Boulder, Broadband, & Beers.
When he traveled there, Mitchell was also interviewed by KGNU on the benefits of community broadband. You can listen to the audio stream and read the article on the host page.
Read Mitchell’s contribution here:
Christopher Mitchell is the Director of the Community Broadband Network Initiative with the Institute for Local Self Reliance in Minneapolis. He’s working with communities that are creating their own municipal broadband services.
Mitchell says that people in these communities need to have reasonable expectations. “The vote to restore local authority is one that starts the process. It’s not in the middle of the process, it’s not at the end of the process, so for each community they have to look at what options are right for them.”
Boulder is inviting community feedback on next steps in the broadband project. Mitchell says it’s key that the community gets involved in the entire process as there is so much at stake, particularly with an uncertain future ahead for net neutrality.
“In general we think relying on local networks is smart because we cannot rely on the federal government to protect net neutrality or our privacy, which is another issue that was wrapped up in some of the net neutrality discussions, but is a bit separate.”
Mitchell will speak at a Boulder, Broadband and Beers event on Tuesday April 17th from 6-8pm at Dojo4, 2030 17th Street in Boulder.
…
Read the full story here.
