Broadband for the People: From the Net to the Roots

[Commentary] As we grow increasingly dependent on the Internet for everything from soup to nuts: employment and educational opportunities, staying in touch with friends and family, and accessing critical news and information, the question of how this essential network operates has never been more important.

Does it work in the interests of the people who rely on it? Or does it work more and more in the interests of the large telecom companies who deploy the wires and deliver the bits and bytes? Broadband for the People, a campaign of the Media Action Grassroots Network, a nationwide coalition of community organizations working together for media change, calls for the full adoption, affordability, and openness of broadband networks. Without these 3 central principals underpinning our communication system, the tremendous power the Internet holds for creativity, economic expansion, civil rights and civic engagement will never be recognized. And the social divides that rack this country with poverty, racism and limited opportunity for many, will carry over, unchanged, into the digital realm - "the digital divide". We didn't get anywhere as a country by vowing to electrify 2/3 of our homes and leave the other 1/3 in the dark. And similarly, we can't settle for anything short of full adoption, full affordability and full openness.

It's a big challenge to get from here to there. Here are some ways we can begin: 1) Shares Resources, 2) Institutionalize Digital Literacy, 3) Fight for Internet Openness and Affordability Like We Mean It.

[Rosenberg is Executive Director of the Media Alliance.]