National Broadband Plan is Landmark Effort to Create 21st Century Internet
Washington – The Center for Democracy & Technology today applauded release of the Federal Communications Commission National Broadband Plan as a landmark effort that sets the course for the Internet in the 21st Century.
"We congratulate the Commission for presenting a bold and far-sighted plan that sets the nation on a course to realize a fully wired, broadband nation," said CDT President Leslie Harris. "The plan isn't merely a blueprint for deployment, but a commitment to creating a policy architecture that ensures the Internet is open, innovative and trusted, while being fully integrated into our economy, government and key institutions."
CDT is pleased to see that the FCC made privacy a predominant, recurring theme in its plan. "Throughout the plan, the FCC seeks to promote interactive quality of broadband while ensuring trust is built into the system," said CDT Vice President Ari Schwartz. "The plan details the privacy concerns that must be addressed as education, health care, voting, and energy all move online and emphasizes the importance of integrating privacy protections into the adoption of these services."
In addition, the plan makes strong recommendations that will encourage open government, greater citizen engagement and more public access to government information.
On copyright matters, the FCC wisely chooses to tread lightly. It refrains from any suggestion that broadband providers should take on radical new roles as copyright inspectors and police, and its limited recommendations focus on facilitating beneficial educational uses of copyrighted material.
We are also gratified that the Plan highlights the immense educational benefits the Internet makes available to children, and recognizes that the government's role in promoting online child safety is one of education, outreach, and collaboration with parents and educators.
On cybersecurity, the Commission's recommendations are likewise measured and focused on the larger issues, such as information sharing between the government and private sector. They bear watching, however, because information sharing programs can have a significant privacy impact, a concern not identified in the plan. The FCC's undertaking to work with ISPs to help customers better defend their systems from cyber threats could have a big security pay off for consumers.
Finally, the Commission also appropriately recognized the critical importance of resolving the question of the appropriate regulatory classification of broadband Internet access services in order to ensure that it has the proper authority to implement key aspects of the plan. CDT believes this regulatory review should be a Commission priority.
CDT looks forward to working with Congress and other government agencies as they move toward implementing the FCC's broadband access plan.
