National Broadband Access

InterlockingP writes: "The Canadian government, after promising high-speed internet access for every community in the country by 2004, has concluded a report on the cost of implementing such a scheme. The total cost, from $1.85 billion to $4.5 billion ($CAN), would be shared by all levels of government and the private sector. Has any other country even addressed this issue yet? It looks like Canada is leading the way (again) with increasing availability of cheap internet access for all to enjoy. The story is covered in the Toronto Star and in The Globe and Mail."

Comments

Re:Government Funded Internet Access?

[FFFish]

Here, chew on this *American* bit of media coverage of our healthcare system: [Canada's Burning!
Media myths about universal health coverage].

You've been lied to by corporate interests in your country. And you *believed* what they told you. To shame!



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Re:Government Funded Internet Access?

[Arandir]

When a corporation wants to charge you something you can refuse. When the government wants to charge you something, and you refuse, you go to jail. If you resist going to jail you will be shot.

I didn't like what Microsoft was selling, so I didn't buy it. I didn't like what the government was selling, but they sent their goons to collect anyway.

Government Funded Internet Access?

[Louis Savain]

It looks like Canada is leading the way (again) with increasing availability of cheap internet access for all to enjoy.

Maybe internet access should be entirely funded by the government just like public roads and highways. After all, it is called the information superhighway. Besides, society benefits as a whole from increased communication.

Re:Government Funded Internet Access?

[Doomdark]

4.5 billion$ is pretty reasonable (how many inhabitants does Canada have? 20 millions? that'd make it ~200 canadian$ per year) compared to what 'efficient' corporations would leech from end customers for similar systems. Compare this with health-care. Citizens of USA pay twice as much for health-care (total cost of various health insurance systems including private and medicare) than their European counterparts, and probably get on average about same level of service (everywhere with enough money you can, of course, get even better health-care from private hospitals... but I'm talking about basic health-care majority of people have)

Most economics agree that 'pure' laissez-faire system doesn't quite work as well in education and health care sector. Corporations just won't invest enough for long term, and if/when state has to subside, overhead grows more than with more traditional 'mixed' systems (combining public and private sectors). Whether same applies to infrastructure (roads, networks) is debatable, but seeing how in most countries roads and railroads are handled by society, it seems possible that state might do a more efficient job there too.

Note though that this should only be taking care of (low-level) infrastructure. ISP services should be taken care of by companies, with the possible exception that there could be a state-owner 'basic level ISP' available. It'd be like AOL-by-the-state; geeks and power users wouldn't touch it, but regular Joe sixpacks, and everyone's proverbial mother/grandmother could use it; it'd be "free" (no out-of-pocket costs, or nominal) and offer basic stuff, but not directly compete with higher level ISP services (if there is such a thing...)

Finally, even though it'd mean some money away from ISPs (not infrastructure level, probably, as govt would most likely by those services, not compete), the net effect of people (and companies) getting basic service for much lower cost might mean more money to use for other purposes.

CommunityNET

[|<amikaze]

I'm not sure about the rest of the country, but in Saskatchewan, we are getting a network called CommunityNet. According to the web page, they will be providing two different types of connections. 10Mbit and 100Mbit :). A friend of mine already has it at the school he does tech work for, and it is amazing. He has the "beta" version that is only 4(i think)Mbit, and it screams. SaskTel claims that they will have 150 communities connected to the network by September 2001, and 366 communities connected within the next three years.

According to the plan, they are only bringing it to communities with educational, health, or government facilities, but that still covers a huge portion of the province.

Before the Hail america bullshit begins

[loraksus]

There's a difference between a media ban and the communications decency act or whatever the hell the Americans passed.

I also haven't heard of a kid being expelled from school for posting a website about the faculty at the school in Canada, although in the states...

Oh. Required filtering on school computers if the school wants federal $ is also another wonderful "American" invention.

TBYP

The slashdot 2 minute between postings limit:
Pissing off coffee drinking /.'ers since Spring 2001.

Re:The problem with this.

[RhetoricalQuestion]

Unfortunately, the problem with a government funded Internet infrastructure is that you have to abide by government rules.

Yes, including Laws, like the Privacy Act (Public Sector) and PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act -- Private Sector.)

In Canada, we have a Privacy Commissioner to help prevent violations to personal privacy from both the government and corporations. The Commissioner acts as a privacy watchdog -- the role is non-partisan.

It's not perfect, but it's pretty good.