5views.com

The chairman of the FCC has been a proponent of the government providing wireless broadband Internet access to everyone in the U.S. I think this is a ridiculous idea. He calls it a ’social obligation’. I think that’s a ridiculous idea.

When the U.S. brought electricity to rural areas of the country there was some justification for it. Not much, but some. It raised the standard of living for everyone including people in rural areas who would likely have had to wait a few more years. But this idea doesn’t even begin to measure up to the value added to our nation when the electric grid was socialized.

People in rural areas have telephones. Telephones provide access to the Internet via dial-up providers such as AOL or any number of local or regional providers. So what is this ’social obligation’ based on? If everyone has access to the Internet if they want it (and can afford it) then how much would they be benefited if we spent billions to provide them with broadband access. It’s the same Internet. They just have to spend a couple of extra minutes waiting for what they want to download.

This article also mentions the shortage of PC’s for school children. But is that the taxpayer’s responsibility? They have access at school and in public libraries. If there are enough concerned citizens then they can start a charitable organization to provide computers to disadvantaged children.

This isn’t food or water we’re talking about. It’s a little savings of time for some people. I think we have bigger issues to deal with. How about fixing our education system? Maybe we build more prisons so we could put a few more gang leaders and perverts behind bars so our children can be safe. Improved Internet access for the disadvantaged doesn’t begin to compare with those issues.

Update: Wireless Internet ends at rest areas. This bright idea in action.  Granted this article is about a paid subscription service, but the bottom line is that it’s not cost effective to put wireless access in the middle of nowhere, even if it’s right by a freeway.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at 3:40 pm and is filed under National Issues, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.