Finland Rules!

My favorite foreign nation has always had a leading role in technological advancement. Finland has quietly progressed on the technology front for years with very little fanfare. I moved to Finland 10 years ago. Before arriving in the country, I had no idea that the Finns were in the forefront of the revolution. I didn't even realize that Nokia is a Finnish company - it certainly sounds Japanese. I see that as one of Finland's main appeals. It is like Japan without the bright lights and self-cleaning toilets. And the latest news out of Finland adds another layer of excitement.

Finland has passed a law making broadband Internet access a legal right of all citizens. By July 2010, all citizens will have a guaranteed right to a 1Mb broadband connection. Naturally a country with only 5 million people will have an easier time implementing such a policy. In the US with our population of 300 million, a guaranteed right to Internet access is pretty unlikely.

Critics may argue that Internet access is no more a right than a car or a nice pair of shoes. I agree. It is not an inalienable right which should be added to various constitutions; however, when the access becomes easier to grant, when many parts of the country already have the infrastructure in place and when most of the population is savvy enough to take advantage of the service, then I don't see the harm.

When I lived in Finland, close to 90% of people had cell phones. Again, this was 10 years ago. That number may seem common now, but 10 years ago in the US, cell phones were still an expensive novelty. Finland seems to silently test ideas and set trends. Perhaps in 10 years, guaranteed broadband laws will not be breaking news.

NTIA announces first states to receive funding for broadband mapping

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) recently announced the first states to receive funds for a broadband mapping program. California, Indiana, North Carolina and Vermont will all receive the funds as part of the Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP).

The plan is to bring grants to each state and territory of the US, as well as the District of Columbia. These four states had the best applications and NTIA is reviewing the rest. The awarded funds will be used to build a national broadband map which will be useful in several ways:

The national broadband map will publicly display the geographic areas where broadband service is available; the technology used to provide the service; the speeds of the service; and broadband service availability at public schools, libraries, hospitals, colleges, universities, and public buildings.

Part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed earlier this year, BTOP will be implemented by the Federal Communications Commission in consultation with the NTIA. By February 17, 2010, the FCC must develop a plan to bring broadband capability to everyone in the United States.

Goals of the BTOP are to:

1. Close the broadband gap in America, focusing in particular on ensuring that unserved and underserved areas – whether rural, urban or in between – have access to modern communications services and the benefits those services offer for education, high-value jobs, quality health care and more.

2. Bring the maximum broadband benefits possible to our schools, libraries, community centers, and medical centers, as well as to our most vulnerable populations and geographic areas.

3. Improve broadband service for public safety users.

4. Help stimulate broadband demand, economic growth, and job creation.

Part of the plan is to create a Broadband Map, which will be publicly accessible, and regularly updated. The deadline for the map is February 17, 2011, and officials expect to have an early version of the map up by February 2010. The map will enable the general public to learn where and what quality of broadband is available, and help businesses decide where to invest.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides $4.7 billion for the project.

In a press release from the White House, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said, “The Commerce Department’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program will reach the last frontiers of America’s information landscape, and the investments it makes in inner-city neighborhoods and rural communities will spur innovation and pave the way for private capital to follow.”

More awards will be announced throughout the fall.

These programs will help increase access to information for all Americans, whether it will enable them to use broadband in their homes or provide access at public libraries. Hopefully the program stays on track and once the plan is developed, it can be acted upon.

Facts on Broadband:

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/highspeedinternet.html

See what projects have been proposed:

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants/applications/search.cfm

Does Free Wireless Internet Have A Chance?

In the months following Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin made it a priority to have free wireless internet available throughout the city. The local government believed that this would give small businesses a chance to reestablish themselves, even though they may lack a physical location. The service did actually launch in the late part of 2005, but it was taken down less than a year later. What happened?

In the case of New Orleans, a private company began providing access to the area covered by the city owned system. Surprisingly, the service remained free.

I get excited when I think about the prospect of free wireless internet. As a subscriber to the local ISP that has a bit of a monopoly over the area, I have always tried to find a service which would give me the same speed for a lower price. However, if I could get service for free, I may be willing to sacrifice a few Kbps.

EarthLink mentions that higher speed access would be available to residents of the area for a fee. Obviously. I would never expect a company to enter a market without the idea that money could be made. I do think that it is a measure of good will that they had the sense to carry on the free service that the city determined was necessary. While it remains to be seen if the service will continue indefinitely, I see this as an interesting model for other cities that hope to provide better access to their citizenry.

Philadelphia shows the next possible step in the effort. Last year, Philadelphia transferred ownership of its city wide wireless internet service from EarthLink to a local company. It is estimated that about 80% of the city is now covered by the service.

I know that there are other factors involved in arming every citizen with free wireless access. Access is great, but what happens when many people cannot afford a computer. With major cities like New Orleans, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Chicago piloting different programs, we are bound to discover what systems work, what needs improving, and what can be used to increase access to an ever growing population of hungry internet consumers.

So, I do believe that this model does have a chance to be sustainable. Free wireless is obviously something that gets people talking. It helps to create a more even playing field and it gives opportunities to local businesses and residents who may have been left out otherwise. Will this be a quick and painless transition? I think not. Will it ever cover the country? Not likely. However, I don’t believe that slow service or the possibility that a corporation may be involved should put a stop to growth and expansion.

Do We Really Need Senate Legislation?

Senate legislation was introduced on June 25th which would require any US government agency or department with a budget of over $100 million to make various research findings available on the Internet. Click here to view the text of the bill. Understandably, the policy does not apply to various pieces of information like phone calls or classified research. It does dictate that non-classified research be made available online as soon as possible after the article has been published.

While I believe this is valuable legislation, I wonder if it goes far enough. $100 million is a lot of money - but so is $50 million, or $10 million. I know that these figures may be small change to the government, but in the real world they are pretty substantial. Perhaps the government would argue that that would be too much information to publish online, but as far as I am aware the Internet does not have a limit to the amount of information that can be published. If the research will already be published in a pear-reviewed journal (as the legislation dictates) then it does not seem like a stretch to add a quick Internet link to a copy of the research findings which can be viewed by anyone with an Internet connection.

I can also foresee the argument that certain topics which require small funding budgets do not have the level of interest required to publish online. 10 years ago, I would have welcomed any opportunity to ease my research on Finnish syllable structure. I realize that the US government probably contributes virtually no (if any) funding to this topic. But hypothetically, a small amount of research that I could have accessed online may have saved hours of cross referencing and trips to various different libraries. I received no funding for my thesis research and I would have happily published my findings online - knowing full well that the interest in the topic may extend to about 10 other people.

I may be naive, but it seems that it should not take legislation to require research findings be published online. Is it actually that difficult? As I stated, I know that there are topics that should remain classified; however, if I came up with a finding that I believed was important or interesting enough to share, why not share it with everyone? It seems like a logical decision.

When pigeons fly faster than broadband

SA Pigeon Faster Than Broadband

Telkom, one of South Africa's largest internet providers, will now have to compete with carrier pigeons. The Unlimited Group conducted an experiment where they attached an encrypted data stick to a carrier pigeon and simultaneously started a download of 4GB. The pigeon flew 50 miles which took it 1 hour and 8 minutes in comparison to the Internet download which took 6 hours. The issue that becomes important here, is not only the quality of the internet service but the fact that South Africans pay the highest price for internet service and it ends up being the least reliable. Internet access has been growing at a slower rate over the past few years. Currently 1 of every 15 people has access to the internet in South Africa. People's access to information directly impacts their socioeconomic status: opportunities, power, educational advancement, inter-connectivity, etc. We live in a global society, and it is through internet access that people are able to engage in that society. I don't believe that it is any coincidence that here in Detroit we have a huge technology gap and that there is a large disparity between suburban and urban dwellers and there is probably a very similar comparison in South Africa.

(More to come in the future).