Our technology is new, our democratic challenge is the same

Speaking at the Practising Law Institute, Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps said, "Folks are beginning to realize that all this talk about broadband is not just techno-speak from broadband geeks. More and more of us now understand that broadband-accessible, affordable, open broadband-is the Great Enabler of our time." He noted that broadband is a critical component to many of the great challenges the nation faces. He evoked the famous quote from Thomas Jefferson who when talking about newspapers said that, if given the choice, he would prefer newspapers without government over a government without newspapers. But offered the rest of the quote, too: "But I should mean that every man should receive those papers, and be capable of reading them." Commissioner Copps said, "Isn't that something? Jefferson is talking about deployment-getting those newspapers out ubiquitously. And he's talking about adoption-people knowing how to read, recognizing the value, and making use of the information infrastructure. Our technology is new -- our democratic challenge is exactly the same."