Following the U.S. Court of Appeals ruling last week that the FCC lacked authority to sanction Comcast for traffic management, public opinion polling company Rasmussen conducted its own survey to query the public on the issue.  Rasmussen asked 1000 participants if the FCC should “regulate the Internet like it does radio and television.”  The results?  A majority said that they oppose the FCC regulating the Internet.

More information can be found on National Journal’s Tech Daily Dose.

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The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, one of the nation’s leading research and public policy institutions whose work focuses primarily on issues of importance to African Americans and other people of color, hosted an event last week to commemorate the release of the their latest study, “National Minority Broadband Adoption:  Comparative Trends in Adoption, Acceptance and Use.”

FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn was the first speaker and didn’t miss the opportunity to congratulate the Joint Center on what she described as a “thoughtful and thorough report of value.”  Clyburn noted that the report accurately reflects that different communities have different needs and interests and that the study is a key piece of the puzzle as the FCC finalizes the National Broadband Plan.

The FCC’s National Broadband Director Blair Levin spoke next, acknowledging the role of USTelecom and the broadband providers as soon as he took the stage.  Levin believes that although price can be a factor, people need to have the skill set to really embrace broadband for all of the purposes that broadband offers, from applying for jobs and social services online to the using the latest e-reader.  The issue of making sure non-adopters understand the relevance of broadband to their everyday lives was a message that resonated loudly during another event last week that looked at a recent broadband survey conducted by former Obama campaign pollster Cornell Belcher.

Dr. Jon Gant, a Fellow with the Joint Center and lead researcher on the project, spoke next to present his findings, noting the use of a longitudinal database to analyze findings and statistically compare minorities.  Overall, Dr. Gant found the following factors most influence whether minorities use broadband:

• Relevance
• Ease of use
• Social Influence
• Resources to support use

Of course, much like the recent report by FCC Consumer Research Director John Horrigan (who was also on hand to discuss both studies),  Dr. Gant finds that among minorities, there is indeed a gap in adoption by education levels, a heavy dependence on public access to computers, and that some non-adopters are unaware of broadband availability.

NextGenWeb livestreamed the event and you can watch the archive here.  Also, click below to watch our interview with Dr. Jon Gant and a reaction from Niambi Jarvis, a leading advocate for connecting minority women with power of technology.

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The FCC has made clear that data will be a core component and driver of the upcoming National Broadband Plan, which is due to Congress on March 17^th.    To better meet their need for data, the FCC commissioned a survey to determine broadband adoption rates, the American public’s attitudes about broadband, and reasons why people may not subscribe to broadband.  FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski stood before a room filled with broadband policy stakeholders at the Brookings Institute yesterday to introduce FCC Consumer Research Director John Horrigan before he presented the results.  The Chairman said he was “excited and proud of this development in our broadband work,” citing goals like remaining globally competitive, increasing our capacity to innovate, and embracing broadband for solving societal issues like education, healthcare, and the environment.

Horrigan started off by sharing some positive trends in adoption, including that 78% of Americans are Internet users and 65% use broadband at home, with increases among communities like Hispanics and rural-Americans.  However, the 35% of those without broadband at home are the real concern, and as Genachowski said in his introduction, “there is no silver bullet to solving adoption.”

Horrigan took this survey as an opportunity to delve deeper into the non-adopter community.  He had respondents list reasons for non-adoption that included general attitudes about broadband use to better understand and therefore address those issues.   He also took the additional step of categorizing those people as “Digital Hopefuls,” “Near Converts,” “Digitally Distant,” and “Digitally Uncomfortable” to indicate their likelihood of conversion.

Watch the interview below with John Horrigan for more information and click here to read the results report in its entirety.

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