High speed Internet is a civil right

Earlier this week in Pittsburgh, Marge Krueger, Administrative Assistant to the Vice President of Communications Workers of America District 13, gave a statement at an FCC hearing on high speed Internet and the digital future. Krueger spoke [video here] about the importance of this advanced technology, and its potential to help people in many different ways: 

Our entire economy depends upon high-speed networks for economic development and job growth… [It is] the critical infrastructure of the 21st century. [High speed Internet] enables improvements in health care, education, public safety, citizen engagement, and even new ways to address global warming.

Pennsylvania was an appropriate setting for this hearing, since the State House recently passed HB1490 in an attempt to address the vast divide that exists between Internet service available in the state's cities and in the rural areas. Ms. Krueger also gave an early report on the 2008 CWA speed test reports in Pennsylvania. (The full 2008 report of Internet speeds in all 50 states will be available in mid-August.)

The average download speed in Pennsylvania in 2008 was 2.4 megabits per second, and the average upload speed was only 504 kilobits per second. That's slow – too slow for medical monitoring at home or videoconferencing. The average download speed in huge parts of rural central Pennsylvania is too slow to classify as broadband, according to the FCC's new definition of 768 kilobits per second downstream.

As the Pennsylvania House has recognized, we cannot rely on market forces alone to strengthen high speed networks. It is critical for government to work in partnership with the private sector to ensure that everyone has affordable access to this vital technology.

FCC commissioner Michael Copps agreed that the need for high speed Internet improvement is as imperative as other infrastructure issues like clean water and good roads:

"No matter who you are, or where you live, or how much money you make... you will need, and you are entitled to have these tools (broadband Internet) available to you, I think, as a civil right."

En Banc Hearing at Carnegie Mellon University on Broadband and the Digital Future (FCC)

FCC Hearing Video

It's Unanimous: Pennsylvania House OKs high speed Internet bill (Speed Matters)

Broadband called a 'civil right' (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)