There’s so much talk online about the Internet, covering so many things:access and consumer choice and volume and capacity.We’ve decided to add to the conversation by posting a short €˜Internet 101’ — a way to make sure we’re all on the same page when it comes to the Internet basics — how we connect, who maintains the networks, bandwidth versus bitrate, etc. etc.
But this presentation also goes beyond the basics, and includes some staggering statistics about the phenomenal growth of the Internet: 10 million new Internet users each month; backbone traffic doubles every 12-15 months; and from 1996 to 2006, basic Internet traffic grew from 1.5 million to 700 million gigabytes/month.The presentation also touches on the some of benefits of broadband deployment, going beyond the €˜usual suspects’ of faster music and video downloads.
So take a minute, and check it out — I hope you’ll find it as interesting as I did.
In yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell hit the nail on the head in his op-ed “Broadband Baloney €? [subscription required]. McDowell pointed out that consumer demand drives innovation, and also soundly rejected the “road of regulatory stagnation. €? We couldn’t agree more.
McDowell also thoroughly debunked claims that the United States is falling behind in broadband deployment. Proponents of Internet regulation have cited statistics from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that claim the U.S. has dropped to 15th from 12th in the world in broadband development. McDowell points out the OECD’s flawed methodology, and warns against letting this bad information lead the U.S. into adopting “innovation-killing policies. €? (more…)
NextGenWeb attended a Consumer Electronics Association broadband event on Capitol Hill this week. CEA economist Shawn Dubravac headlined the event and discussed the research findings in his recent study titled, “Broadband in America: Access, Use and Outlook.” NextGenWeb caught up with Mr. Dubravac after his presentation. Click below to see his interview.
Last week, John Nichols, writing on his blog at TheNation.com, wrote a piece titled Don’t Fence in the Web. We at NextGenWeb strongly disagreed with much of the content of the entry, and asked The Nation to run our response in the interest of an open and free debate.
The Nation declined. Which begs the question: What is The Nation afraid of?
Here, in its entirety, is the response The Nation didn’t want you to see:
Political commentators have a frustrating habit of characterizing the network regulation debate (better known by the spin-doctored name “net neutrality €?) as a Goliath vs. Goliath battle. That narrative may make for good soundbites, but it’s far from being a complete €”or fair €”characterization of those advocating against net regulation. (more…)
NextGenWeb.org this week covered the Minority Media & Telecommunications Council 5th Annual Access to Capital Conference in Washington D.C. MMTC is a leading advocate for minority and female participation in broadcasting, cable, telephone, and wireless, as well as music, motion picture and publishing industries. The conference is one of the largest for minorities in media and telecom and covered a broad spectrum of telecommunications policy issues. USTelecom President and CEO Walter McCormick delivered a keynote presentation, click below to view his remarks as well as highlights from the question and answer session.
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