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Govt Says: Internet Is Popular
michaeld writes "The U.S. Dept of Commerce reports that more than half of the nation is now online. In
September 2001, 143 million Americans (54%
of population) were using the Internet -- an
increase of 26 million in thirteen months. 2 million more go online each month. Between August 2000 and September 2001, residential
use of high-speed, broadband service doubled--from about
4 to 11 percent of all individuals, and from 11 to 20
percent of Internet users. ZDNet has commentary as does Reuters, while the government has the Full report."
A non-trivial proportion of those people get their internet access via 56k dial-up modems, and certainly their surfing experience would be vastly better with a broadband connection. In addition, 46% of Americans do not yet have access to the internet. While with most forms of technology, not everyone wants to get online, I'd wager that a fair portion of that 46% would like to learn how.
I think there are several things that we as the richest nation on Earth should focus on going forward:
1. Making internet access available to those in the remaining 46% who cannot afford but wish to have access. Perhaps a large campaign to recycle used computers and 56k modems and then donate them along with free monthly access to poor people would be a good start.
2. Improve the broadband experience for those who have gone through it thus far. By this I mean a concerted effort to reduce the delays in getting DSL service and the fiascos related to the @home collapse.
3. Make broadband live up to its claims. Currently, many if not most cable modem users suffer from network congestion and slower-than-advertised download speeds. For me personally, while still much faster than a modem, the frustration I have in the evening when things seem to move at a snail's pace make me yearn for a modem; at least then I can't complain about the service. Probably the best solution is a two-tiered pricing scheme in which light users pay a lower monthly fee but are guaranteed a speed of, say, 768kbps down and in which heavy users (say, over 2 gigs a month) pay a much higher fee. There is little doubt that a small proportion of broadband users slow down cable networks for everyone; and they should have to pay for their heavy usage.
4. Do everything possible to support open standards on the internet. In other words, make web pages browser-agnostic. Avoid using proprietary services such as Microsoft's .NET offerings until the protocols are publicly known and other software vendors (or open source providers) have had a chance to develop products with a compatible feature set.
5. Do not use Microsoft .doc and .xls formats as the basis for document interchange. Not everyone uses Microsoft products, and because of their proprietary nature other software packages cannot offer 100% portability. If a document does not need to be modified, use a PDF file; if it does, use RTF or some other standards-based document type that can be processed by other software. For spreadsheets, use a basic CSV format if it is sufficient or use WK1, which all spreadsheet packages can handle.
Enough rambling. Time for breakfast.
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The person who dubs the internet as any sort of "basic right" probably needs to go without for a few months just so you will find that yes, you can survive without internet access. The internet in no way affects your quality of life.
-- Dan
comptres [sic] are still mystical boxes not to be tampered with
Do you have to be able to tamper with your computer in order to be online? Do you have to know how to use Gopher, FTP, Newsgroups, and Telnet to be online?
How about another approach? Do I have to be a musician to enjoy music? Do I have to be a chef to enjoy food? Do I have to be a mechanic to drive my car? Do I have to hunt if I want to eat meat? Do I have to be a carpenter to sit on my chair?
I think you get the idea. Just because people are not technically inclined it does not make them any less online. Your elitist attitude will not serve you well when dealing with regular people.
The internet in no way affects your quality of life.
Of course it affects quality of life (sometimes even negatively). But of course, this alone is not enough to make it a fundamental right. And yes, food, shelter, privacy, right to earn a living, and many other things come first. :)
A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
Second, unlike, say cable, phone, or electricity, there is a rather large initial cost of ownership that one needs to invest in (the computer) in order to take advantage of the service. The poor to lower-middle classes won't be able to enjoy such services and would be mightly upset to find that they had to pay for that utility despite not using anyway.
Finally, the internet market still has no rules; it's unregulated, and yet it's not hard to find places where monopolistic-type systems are appearing. Some providers that also control other parts of the pipe want to do everything for you (AOLTW envisions >$200 monthly bills for people that use their cable for TV, movies-on-demand, phone, and internet connectivity). Local players are still getting the run-arounds from ILECs in trying to service customers that they are supposed to be able to by law. Let's work out the last mile mess first before we start pushing the idea of a internet connection in every home, otherwise, we could end up with a second MaBell-like monopoly.
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
I would disagree with your stating the Internet doesn't affect my quality of life. I'm much better informed, more politically active, and make more money becuase of the Internet. I have new friends, and am able to better keep in touch with geographically distant friends and family. I have seen and read things online that I never would have been exposed to had it not been for the Internet.
While it is not a basic right, it does affect the quality of life.
obviously no deficiencies vs. no obvious deficiencies
I sat down the other day and thought about the internet and its part in my life and I realised, maybe for the first time, how utterly indispensible its become. I mean, its the first invention or "fad" in my lifetime that has generated interest and worked its way into my life in such a way that I would genuinely have difficulty if it was taken away. Nothing else has done this: not sega game consoles, or compact disks, or satellite tv or whatever.
Its in everypart of my life: I communicate with it, I play on it, I shop on it, I learn from it, I work with it.
It is uniquely useful - you can learn entire programming languages, and probably spoken languages, from deja. The other day I found a page which listed streaming russian tv stations for my homesick wife. Almost any piece of information you can think of is a google search away. And you can even publish your own brand of idiocy for (potentially) every person on the planet to read!! Good god. The idea of life without the internet frightens me...
Is there any wonder its becoming so popular.
http://www.davetansley.com - you proba