Obama to boost U.S. Broadband Development

[Gahars]

President Barack Obama is set to sign an executive order to boost broadband networks for federal property this Thursday. The order is designed to decrease the costs and speed up the process of installation, hopefully spurring further growth and development.

The order also has a second, more far reaching goal: preparing the nation for a faster internet. The initiative, called "US Ignite", seeks to create a partnership between the United States government and private businesses.

TPM

So, making the development of broadband networks more efficient while setting the groundwork for the future ahead seems like a pretty smart move. Seeing where this all takes us 5, 10, 15 years down the road will certainly be interesting. Plus, considering that this is an executive order, it can be implemented pretty much immediately; it sure beats having to go through Congress, now the dial-up of political institutions.

 

[Thesolcity]

seeks to create a partnership between the United States government and private businesses.

It was all fine until I read that. Considering (Obligatory Internet Almost-Laws), I'm not sure I want this.

 

[triassic911]

Niiice, it is about time. I want me some 50mbps down for cheap.

 

[Rydian]

I guess the US was tired of not even being on the 10 ten "fastest or best whatever" lists involving internet speed and coverage.

Other than better download speeds, better internet does mean the availability of stuff like live streaming for classrooms. Some of my classes at the local college are using this sort of thing, and it's not really possible without your own link, which is a lot more expensive to get set up if the backbonewhateverstuff isn't there already.

Here's a picture I snapped today.

 

[DiscostewSM]

The pic used in the OP is the moment prior to Obama flipping over his laptop in a rage. Of course, anyone would do that when their pron isn't downloading fast enough in a conference.

 

[Gahars]

seeks to create a partnership between the United States government and private businesses.

It was all fine until I read that. Considering (Obligatory Internet Almost-Laws), I'm not sure I want this.

You don't have to worry about that (just yet, anyway). This is solely focused on boosting the efficiency, speed, and power of the nation's broadband. The goals behind the legislation you're referring to is a different issue entirely, and would still have to go through other channels to become law.

Here, I just took this excerpt from the article. Not sure how much it will help, but hopefully it will clarify what exactly they're hoping to accomplish and how they're going about it.

Spoiler

The US Ignite partnership already includes almost 100 partners, from 25 U.S. cities to 60 national research universities to numerous leading telecom and tech companies, including Comcast, Cisco, HP and Juniper, which the White House says have signed on to offer “programming” support, to major wireless providers Verizon and Comcast, which will develop a high-speed broadband network in select pilot cities.

Meanwhile, other federal agencies including the National Science Foundation, the Departments of Commerce and Agriculture, the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Defense are all also participating in the program to various extents, with the NSF taking the lead in “committing $20 million to prototype and deploy new technologies” for the new high-speed broadband network.

NSF is also partnering with the Mozilla Foundation, makers of the Firefox web browser, onMozilla Ignite, a public competition with $500,000 in prize money that asks developers to come up with “apps from the future” that “can revolutionize healthcare, education, public safety, energy and more.” The competition begins today with an open call for idea submissions, which Mozilla says it will seed with development money separate from that of the prizes.

“Mozilla believes in the power of the open internet and the power of distributed, community-based innovation,” said Mozilla’s Executive Director, Mark Surman, in a Mozilla blog post. “This is an invitation to designers, developers and civic thinkers to create software that shapes the future and helps their communities.”

The White House has not given a total cost estimate for how much money the government and private companies are collectively sinking into the US initiative, but the program doesn’t call for much new spending on its own, rather, it consolidates a number of formerly independent efforts by federal agencies and companies under one umbrella and under one goal: Prepare the country for an age when the Internet is way faster than what most users currently experience.

 

[Vampire Lied]

Looks for SOPA/PIPA tactics to slip into this "bigger, better internet".
What benefit does the government get out of providing better connectivity to the people?
All this makes me think is that the government is trying another angle to supress freedom.
Just speculation, but when's the last time the government did something great without it being a masked fuck-the-citizens campaign?

 

[Fear Zoa]

Its nice to see the government embrace and try to help the internet for a change, but somehow I fear they'll find a way to make this a bad thing .

 

[Gahars]

Looks for SOPA/PIPA tactics to slip into this "bigger, better internet".
What benefit does the government get out of providing better connectivity to the people?
All this makes me think is that the government is trying another angle to supress freedom.

The internet is a huge part of our economy now; think of how many people trade, communicate, invest, conduct research, etc. online. A better, faster internet enables and encourages this, which only helps our economic output.

Just because the government employs a beneficial and helpful policy does not mean that it must have underlying, nefarious intentions.

Just speculation, but when's the last time the government did something great without it being a masked fuck-the-citizens campaign?

Do you want a list?

 

[Glyptofane]

Looks for SOPA/PIPA tactics to slip into this "bigger, better internet".
What benefit does the government get out of providing better connectivity to the people?
All this makes me think is that the government is trying another angle to supress freedom.
Just speculation, but when's the last time the government did something great without it being a masked fuck-the-citizens campaign?

Now who is wearing the foil hat? You are actually on the right track though. Remember that idea about Web 2.0, a corporatized and controlled version of the internet? Anyway, US has some of the slowest broadband on the planet overall, even compared with some third world nations. We need the upgrade just to keep up with Africa.

 

[Vampire Lied]

I'm just sayin the US government never does anything without their own agenda in mind.
I mean, Obama has made good on so many promises so far. LOL

 

[BORTZ]

Now this is my speculation but ill let it fly anyways.

Im afraid of a few things. I am seeing an unsettling trend in mobile providers. 6 years ago having a smart phone and using mobile internet was cramped slow and painful. Companies set out to get more data to the customer and at faster speeds and with faster phones. Now we are here in the early era of 4G networks. Almost everyone i know has a smart phone and a data package. The wireless provider succeeded in faster data and phones. But now data moves too fast and people can put a huge drain on networks. So we tiered data limiting the amount of this glorious resource we can have.

How long will it be till we get ISPs going the same direction? Data moves too fast and users take advantage of that, resulting in people no longer paying for a bigger pipe, but limited in how much comes through that pipe.

Some one PLEASE prove me wrong. I hate when im right.

 

[chyyran]

Obama looks so smug in that picture.

 

[Thesolcity]

Now this is my speculation but ill let it fly anyways.

Im afraid of a few things. I am seeing an unsettling trend in mobile providers. 6 years ago having a smart phone and using mobile internet was cramped slow and painful. Companies set out to get more data to the customer and at faster speeds and with faster phones. Now we are here in the early era of 4G networks. Almost everyone i know has a smart phone and a data package. The wireless provider succeeded in faster data and phones. But now data moves too fast and people can put a huge drain on networks. So we tiered data limiting the amount of this glorious resource we can have.

How long will it be till we get ISPs going the same direction? Data moves too fast and users take advantage of that, resulting in people no longer paying for a bigger pipe, but limited in how much comes through that pipe.

Some one PLEASE prove me wrong. I hate when im right.

ISPs already issue bandwidth caps....most notably AT&T (Choice of 150gb or 250gb) and xFinity (250gb),

 

[Glyptofane]

This is correct. I still use ATT/Yahoo and it is pretty much a shite DSL connection, but well... yea, and they cap us, but I don't really pirate that much anymore because everything sucks and I have like 10 years worth of videos and games to go through now if the hard drives survive.

The other issue being discussed here is the much more restrictive data plans for cell phones. This may make me sound old, crazy, or whatever, but I have never had a cell phone and probably never will. It isn't because of the cancer risk, which should be obvious by now... it's more about the criminal ripoff contracts. I mean, screw that noise!

 

[air2004]

This is correct. I still use ATT/Yahoo and it is pretty much a shite DSL connection, but well... yea, and they cap us, but I don't really pirate that much anymore because everything sucks and I have like 10 years worth of videos and games to go through now if the hard drives survive.

The other issue being discussed here is the much more restrictive data plans for cell phones. This may make me sound old, crazy, or whatever, but I have never had a cell phone and probably never will. It isn't because of the cancer risk, which should be obvious by now... it's more about the criminal ripoff contracts. I mean, screw that noise!

Thats why I love fios

 

[chartube12]

Every time he tried to pass a similar thing before he ended up over turned. Big businesses do not want us to have cheaper and faster internet.

 

[Gahars]

I'm just sayin the US government never does anything without their own agenda in mind.

Nobody does anything without their own agenda in mind (in some way, shape, or form). Just because the US government is pursuing its own agenda does not automatically mean that it's at the expense of the citizens.

 

[stanleyopar2000]

Government Controlled internet: THE FUTURE!

 

[Vampire Lied]

I wish I could have the same faith in the US government as you.
Thinking of the government only brings frustration and empty promises to mind anymore.
If it's not that way for you, then I'm happy for you.
I wish more ppl had a reason to believe our government isn't crap. Including myself.
If I was rich, I wouldn't have to care since I could buy my way in and out of everything like they do.