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Internet For All in Europe

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the what-about-here dept.

evileyetmc writes "It seems that the EU has taken the next big step in promoting the concept of Internet for All, by attempting to 'ensure that the most Web-disadvantaged groups can get online.'" From the article: "The EC has now pledged to increase broadband coverage across the continent to 90 percent by 2010. Rural areas are still underserved, according to the Commission, with about 60 percent penetration. Urban areas fare better and are already at the 90 percent mark. The EC has also committed to putting new measures in place to halve exclusion rates in skills and digital literacy by 2010. "

7 of 186 comments (clear)

  1. I wonder how history will judge us by oni · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It will be interesting to look back in a few decades and see how different the US and Europe will be because of their different approaches to the Internet. in the US, the Internet will be a place for businesses that can pay the carrier cartels. In Europe, the Internet will be a place (more like what we in the US have today) where ideas are exchanged freely.

    1. Re:I wonder how history will judge us by G+Morgan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What do you mean by competitors. Britain (and most of Europe AFAIK) have a state sanctioned broadband setup that all the ISP's compete across. I'm with a company called Plusnet but there are a whole host of ISP's ready to take my custom should Plusnet annoy me too much and I'm in the darkest depths of the Welsh Valleys so I'm not near any large population center.

      I don't think competition is an issue and as time is moving on broadband is getting much cheaper, much faster, more reliable and with greater penetration. I suppose it just goes to show the value of a mixed economy over a pure free market. Nobody is in danger of taking our internet bar the American companies since all net usage still requires the US for things like DNS (that will obviously start to change the day US telcos break net neutrality, the EU will get Galileo/GPS about it likely).

    2. Re:I wonder how history will judge us by JSchoeck · · Score: 4, Informative

      No central or western european country has any state-run telephone/internet companies anymore. All nations have broadband faster at equal speed or even much faster than the general internet connection in the USA. For example: France has DSL 20MBit in cities and DSL 6MBit in other areas, Germany has DSL 6MBit in cities and at least 2MBit in rural areas with 20MBit coming this or next year. You hope/uninformed prophecy will not come true, because internet connectivity in Europe is already past the state you describe for the future.

  2. W3C by bsdluvr · · Score: 4, Informative

    From TFA: According to recent research, 81 percent of Web sites in the United Kingdom are inaccessible to disabled people, while a separate report found that only 3 percent of European public-sector Web sites met W3C accessibility guidelines.

    Good to see they are caring about accessibility and compatibility, because those two are often overlooked when talking about internet coverage. They are actually talking about 90% of the population, and not just 90% geographical coverage.

  3. This is probably a step in a wider plan.... by Marsmensch · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Several european countries (with the scandinavians pretty far in the lead) are moving as many government services as possible online in order to save on paperwork and other costs. However, especially in Denmark, they observed that this leads to the problem of the elderly and other subgroups not having proper access to those services, or the adequate ability to use the tools necessary to interact with public services.

    This is increasingly going to be an issue in countries where you can't, for instance, pay your taxes without online, and universal access, if it proves cheaper than the amount saved by streamlining other services, is clearly the way to go.

    --
    Slashdot: news from nerds.
  4. Hurm... by Churla · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The more I look at Myspace and see what it's doing to a good segment of society the less and less I think "Internet for all" is such a great idea.

    Call my crazy and all I'm ready for it.

    --
    I'm a fiscal conservative, it's a pity we don't have a political party anymore
  5. Re:EU US bullshit ... Or Reality ? by Twiceblessedman · · Score: 5, Funny

    "And i would wish the people who are annoyed with the way things are going in u.s. would migrate to europe." Why go all the way to europe when canada is just above them? ;)