Who'll Define 'Universal Service'?

[Commentary] Today, most of us think of "universal service" as a right — a moral, and frequently legal guarantee of a nation's citizenry to be provided with access to basic technological goods and services like electricity, telephone and, now, broadband. Yet the notion of universal service itself is not, in fact, universal. Not only has our nation's technological infrastructure changed dramatically throughout the past 150 years, so too have the rationales and interests of what universal service means. With Congress potentially set to redefine the legal criteria for universal service early next year, we might pause for a moment to reflect on the term's changing meanings and consider how universal service should be refashioned for the 21st century to best serve the pressing needs of rural communities. New definitions of universal service should be designed to provide quality, affordable telephone and broadband access to those citizens overlooked by the logic of the marketplace. We must ensure that universal service does not again simply become an empty slogan that legally protects and perpetuates the status quo.