Bandwidth Issues White Papers

Broadband Backgrounder: Public Policy Issues Raised by Broadband Technology

• Tags:
• bandwidth issues,
• interactive,
• medium,
• principles

Overview The extraordinary growth and innovation of the Internet, its ability to empower individuals, and its role in promoting free expression and democratic values depend critically on openness principles that have characterized the "narrowband" world of dial-up access. Some of these principles relate to the openness of the Internet's standards and software. Some are engineering principles, designed to make the Internet function flexibly and efficiently. Others are policy choices regarding the telephone system, made before the Internet existed. These architectural elements and policy choices have implemented values as well as enabled communication.

The openness of the narrowband Internet has been responsible for the most democratic and dynamic form of mass communications ever created. As expressed by Judge Dalzell in ACLU v. Reno, "the Internet is a far more speech-enhancing medium than print, the village green, or the mails." The Internet allows anyone to reach the entire world simply and inexpensively. It enables the unprecedented ability of speakers to speak and allows listeners to receive content, free from governmental or private interference.

Preserving openness and the dynamic nature of the Internet is critical to maintaining the democratic character of this medium as the Internet is transformed from the narrowband technologies of dial-up modems and slow content delivery to the "broadband" world of cable modems, DSL, wireless, and other technologies that deliver high-speed Internet access. Emerging broadband Internet technologies offer advantages over narrowband access that will enhance and expand the Internet's usefulness to users. Broadband Internet will allow subscribers to send or receive video and audio content of digital quality and to download interactive, graphic-rich webpages. The high-speed technology will enable entrepreneurs to bring new services to market that will make the Internet interactive in real time.

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