As you know, or should since you’re reading this online, more and more information is being pushed through the Internet these days. Newspapers, magazines, books and self-published content, like blogs, Twitter and Facebook, are all online. Some publications that used to only print their content on paper now only print it on your computer screen.
In a Democracy, such as ours, where citizens vote for their representatives in public office and are allowed to stand in government council meetings and share their thoughts on a topic, access to information is critical so everyone can make informed decisions about important issues. That’s one reason why we have public libraries, right? Libraries are important, but not everyone has access to them either. So, like the newspaper used to be delivered daily in our driveway no matter where we lived, we need to be able to have it delivered to our computers no matter where we live.
But not everyone has access to the Internet, and some who do have such a slow connection that it’s too frustrating to access. (Remember, not everyone lives in a metropolitan area like we do here in Charlotte.)
Enter the Alliance for Digital Equality. They’re holding a FREE summit this Friday at Johnson C. Smith University. If you want to attend, you need to RSVP right away. If you can’t attend, you can still submit questions for the panel. Here are the event’s details.
Here’s one of our neighbors, discussing their lack of access to broadband Internet and some additional, and very valid, reasons to expand telecom services to every citizen:
Rhiannon “Rhi” Bowman is an independent journalist who contributes snarky commentary on Creative Loafing’s CLog blog four days a week in addition to writing for several other local media organizations. Additionally, she’s on the steering committee for the Greater Charlotte Society of Professional Journalists. To learn more, click the links or follow Rhi on Twitter.
This article appears in Sep 28 – Oct 4, 2010.
To carry this absurd line of logic to it’s obvious conclusion:
Are we also obligated to provide people with a computer with which to access the Internet?
And who deserves a Mercedes? Me.
It is ridiculous to think that everyone deserves broadband internet (just as it’s ridiculous to think that everyone deserves health insurance). If a person lives in a remote or “underserved” area and is truly the type that will, as you describe, “stand in government council meetings and share their thoughts on a topic”, that person will do whatever it takes to become informed. There are still plenty of newspapers to subscribe to, there are libraries, there is TV, radio, etc. But the type of person who sits back and waits on yet another government handout, like ‘free’ broadband internet service, certainly is not the one standing in those council meetings.
The point is that there is a cost to setting up this access. In a private scenario, if there is adequate demand willing to pay extra for it to exist, it will be built in most cases. The choice is who should pay. If the public pays, the reality is that the money will be forcibly taken from others to fund it. Would you be for providing public transportation into cities from rural areas to expand opportunity?