Writing about the importance of making broadband accessible for all in The Huffington Post, Former Congresswoman Eva Clayton cites Ev Ehrlich’s recent PPI policy paper that outlines the best steps forward:
Recently, economist Ev Erlich, former Undersecretary of Commerce in the Clinton administration, and the Progressive Policy Institute released a must-read paper on broadband policy, “Shaping the Digital Age: A Progressive Broadband Agenda.” The paper outlines an agenda that would return broadband policy to its progressive roots by:
“(F)inishing the job of creating a truly national high-speed network, using the remarkable capabilities of broadband to improve education, health care, government, and other social sectors, creating the terms on which more connectivity can be created (for example, liberating spectrum), and protecting the individual right to privacy using both legal means and market forces.”
What do all of these policies have in common? They will deliver real benefits to Americans in both urban to rural America. Expanding broadband availability and improving adoption rates should be at the heart of any progressive broadband policy agenda.
Ehrlich also advises progressives to keep their eye on the ball and not let debates over divisive issues like “net neutrality” distract from more important goals, as this issue “does nothing to address the leading obstacles to a ubiquitous broadband Internet: Indifference and the absence of computers.”
Read the entire piece at The Huffington Post.
