A high-level commission whose members include a former CNN president, a top Google executive, two former FCC chairmen and the president of the NAACP is comparing the government’s role in building internet infrastructure to the Eisenhower administration s drive to build the interstate highway system. Reported by AP, the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy is urging the government to provide incentives to broadband and cable companies to wire underserved areas. More than a third of Americans do not have broadband access and some rural communities in the country are still not wired for it. The commission proposed additional government activities such as funding for public libraries to increase internet access and media literacy programs.
Among other areas of concern expressed by the commission is the long-term effect financial woes in the media sector coupled with the country’s lag in adopting broadband might have on maintaining a socially first class society.
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