Benton RSS Feed

[Commentary] Internet freedom is not something to be taken lightly, as anyone who has tried to gain access to forbidden sites in China will tell you. The countries that would like to censor Internet content, including Russia, China, Iran and others, were eager to see their authority to do so etched into a United Nations treaty debated at a conference last month in Dubai. The United States and other nations committed to a free and open Internet refused to sign the treaty. It was a largely symbolic protest but the right thing to do. The conference did serve to highlight broad, opposing camps over Internet freedom. After the United States pulled out, 89 nations signed the agreement, including Russia, China, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela. The blank screen of the Internet censor is not likely to disappear soon. A long and fateful battle looms for digital freedom.

For as stodgy and out-of-touch as the cogs of U.S. government seem at times, it’s not all paper-pushers working behind the scenes. Some are more in touch with what’s going on in the digital world than you’d think. Case-in-point: Alec Ross, a senior adviser for innovation to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (and soon Sen. John Kerry, who will succeed Clinton), who spoke at the DLD Conference in Munich, Germany. Indeed, being tech savvy is built into Ross’ job description; along with the 155 other digitally focused employees at the State Department, he’s charged with finding technological solutions to the world problems, ranging from ending world hunger to dealing with violations of human rights. To the latter point, for instance, his office has helped smuggle fiber-optic cable into countries where the Internet has been restricted.

France, seeking fresh ways to raise funds and frustrated that American technology companies that dominate its digital economy are largely beyond the reach of French fiscal authorities, has proposed a new levy: an Internet tax on the collection of personal data.

The idea surfaced in a report commissioned by President François Hollande, which described various measures his government was taking to address what the French see as tax avoidance by Internet companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook. These companies gather vast reams of information about their users, harnessing it to tailor their services to individuals’ interests or to direct customized advertising to them. So extensive is the collection of personal details, and so promising the business opportunities linked to it, that the report described data as the “raw material” of the digital economy. “They have a distinct value, poorly reflected in economic science or official statistics,” the report said.

At the U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski called for at least one gigabit community in all 50 states by 2015.

Challenging broadband providers and state and municipal community leaders to come together to meet this “Gigabit City Challenge,” Chairman Genachowski said that establishing gigabit communities nationwide will accelerate the creation of a critical mass of markets and innovation hubs with ultra-fast Internet speeds. Chairman Genachowski said, “American economic history teaches a clear lesson about infrastructure. If we build it, innovation will come. The U.S. needs a critical mass of gigabit communities nationwide so that innovators can develop next-generation applications and services that will drive economic growth and global competitiveness.” To help communities meet the Gigabit City Challenge, Chairman Genachowski announced plans to create a new online clearinghouse of best practices to collect and disseminate information about how to lower the costs and increase the speed of broadband deployment nationwide, including to create gigabit communities.

At the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting, Chairman Genachowski proposed working jointly with the U.S. Conference of Mayors on the best-practices clearinghouse effort. Chairman Genachowski also announced that the FCC will hold workshops on gigabit communities. The workshops will convene leaders from the gigabit community ecosystem—including broadband providers, and state and municipal leaders— to evaluate barriers, increase incentives, and lower the costs of speeding gigabit network deployment. Together, the workshops will inform the Commission’s clearinghouse of ways industry, and local and state leaders can meet the challenge to establish gigabit communities nationwide.