Why Spend $350 Million to Map Broadband?

The stimulus bill includes 350 million for making a "nationwide inventory map of existing broadband service capability and availability in the United States." This map, members of Congress say, will be helpful in making sure that the $7 billion in proposed grants to bring high speed Internet service to rural areas are handed out where they are most needed. Several states have tried to create maps of Internet service and found it to be a technical challenge. Why not publish information that will let companies offer Americans better deals on Internet service than the ones they have now? And for that matter, if the government has a reason to collect a list of all the services available, why shouldn't it let consumers look up that information to help them shop around? Now, however, there seems to be a bigger issue than the trade-offs between the rights of consumers to get better deals and the rights of businesses to keep their operations secret. The federal government is about to spend a great deal of money to subsidize broadband construction and a good deal more to make a map of where that money should go. Congress, as well as the regulators who will carry out the new law, should look carefully to see if the reluctance of the cable and phone companies to provide customer data will slow down these efforts or make them more expensive.