The digital divide can be bridged by guaranteeing that Internet access is fast, affordable, and accessible to all, and promoting public efforts to create such networks. We support:

• Internet policies that require open access, non-discrimination and universal service build-out.

• Policies that support public efforts to create municipal wireless networks.

• Policies that broaden access to the public airwaves by opening up vacant spectrum for unlicensed use.

Net Neutrality

"Net neutrality" refers to a principle of network design that asserts that, in order to promote innovation, network service providers, such as telephone and cable internet companies, should not be permitted to dictate how those networks are used.

Resources on Net Neutrality

• For a wealth of information on Net Neutrality and an opportunity to take action, visit www.SaveTheInternet.com
• "Net Nuetrality: Return Us to a Productive Landscape" by Michael Weisman
  
• Network Neutrality Fact Sheet by Common Cause
  http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=1234951

• The Importance of Internet and Public Support for Network Neutrality:
  National Survey Results by Free Press, Consumers Union, and
  Consumer Federation of America
  http://www.consumerfed.org/pdfs/net_neutrality_poll.pdf
• The End of the Internet? Article from The Nation by Jeffrey Chester
  http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060213/chester

Community Internet

Community Internet (also called Municipal broadband or community wireless, depending upon the type of connection) is Internet service provided (at least partly) through local government support. With community Internet provided as a public utility like water and electricity, consumers would pay significantly less for Internet service each month. Predictably, incumbent telecommunications and cable companies complain that government competition is unfair, so the cable and telco giants are flexing their financial muscles and lobbying to have community broadband banned in each state.

Resources on Community Internet

• Community Internet Background by Free Press
  http://www.freepress.net/communityinternet/
• Community Broadband Fact Sheet by Common Cause
  http://www.commoncause.org/atf/cf/%7BFB3C17E2-
  CDD1-4DF6-92BE-BD4429893665%7D/COMMUNITY_
  BROADBAND_FACT_SHEET.PDF
  
• Worldwide Broadband Use Chart by Common Cause
  http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=1211593
• The Philadelphia Story: Learning from a Municipal Wireless Pioneer by The New America Foundation http://www.newamerica.net/events/2007/philadelphia_story_learning_municipal_wireless_pioneer
  

Internet Policy Research

• Solving the Persistent Problem of the Digital Divide
  - September 27, 2005 by Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
  http://www.civilrights.org/issues/communication/details.cfm?id=36099
• Are We Really a Nation Online? Ethnic and Racial Disparities in Access to Technology and Their Consequences
  - September 20, 2005 by Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
  http://www.civilrights.org/issues/communication/digitaldivide.pdf