Why You Should Care

Most members of the IHH list who have written here are lawyers or technologists. They use big words with precision to describe complex concepts.

It can all be a bit much. It’s easy to think this is an issue for elites, that you don’t need to care about it.

But you do. Susan Estrada of Firstmile.US   recently explained why you should care, in answer to a question from another member of the group. It’s reprinted here with permission:

Besides the fact that the US in "behind" compared to 15 other countries, there are a lot of compelling reasons for big broadband in the US.  Big money.  Big economic losses (or gains.) Here’s a few…

1. Owning the "Internet" industry — The Chinese have declared that they will own the Internet soon by insuring that their hardware and software is in the core.  The Japanese have declared the same thing.  Having a compelling broadband infrastructure in place helps you understand a lot about how to build a better widget to run the thing (US entrepreneurial spirit and all.)  How can the US compete effectively in this space if our people don’t experience real broadband?  Are we gonna lose this like we’ve lost so many other leadership positions in technology industries? It appears so. 
2. Healthcare — Baby boomers, Medicare, huge health bills ahead.  The government could save billions by implementing broadband and people could live longer healthier lives.
3. Education — The US education system is broken – "Stupid in America" is what ABC titled it’s recent story.  A recent worldwide study shows the following: At age 10, American students take an international test and score well above the international average. But by age 15, when students from 40 countries are tested, the Americans place 25th.  Can broadband help?  Sure, once a few jillion rules are changed at the state levels.  Broadband can allow kids to learn the way they are genetically programmed to learn. Even Sylvan Learning Centers do broadband education now. Undereducated kids are bad for the economy. For more info on why and what’s going on now, see The Content Bank
4. Entertainment  — twice a year there is a meeting called Digital Hollywood.  Attend any session at the event and listen to all of the companies who are waiting for the US to have real broadband and start figuring out how many billions of dollars they are not getting because we have no national broadband policy. Then, listen to these same companies describe their experiences in connected countries like S. Korea, Japan, Europe, where they have made great strides in bring products to market. Warner Brothers is doing a P2P download trial, where?  In Europe, not the US. 

More examples in each of these areas can be found at the FirstMile Web site .