FCC Revises Broadband Penetration Metrics

joelt49 writes "Ars Technica reports that the FCC has revised its broadband penetration metric. Previously, if only one subscriber in a zip code received connectivity at 200 Kbps, then the entire zip code was considered to have broadband access. Now, the FCC will count the number of subscribers in census tracts. The FCC has also revised its definition of broadband; previously, it was anything over 200 Kbps. Now, speeds between 200 and 768 Kbps are considered 'First-Generation' broadband, and speeds up to 1.5 Mbps are considered 'Basic' broadband." Unfortunately, the FCC has decided to keep all this new data to themselves.

Comments

Re:How can they keep this secret?

[InvisblePinkUnicorn]

"Because the government is the people. Joe Blow did find this information - he paid the government to do it."

And what about Jane Blow who does not want to pay the government to find out that information? What choice does she have?

"Unless there's a compelling national security reason to keep it secret, the data belongs to the people and should be made available to them."

"But once they do compile it, it rightfully belongs to the people."

Actually, what should be done is that the information should be destroyed, those who were negatively impacted by the action should be compensated, and the public should be refunded the money that was spent on the project. All at the expense of the rest of the FCC budget (which should also be eliminated).