Posted on 09/22/2011 5:54:30 AM PDT by AT7Saluki
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and District of Columbia Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson and Comcast Executive Vice President David L. Cohen this morning announced the official nationwide launch of "Internet Essentials," the program that will provide low-cost Internet services, affordable computers, and digital literacy training to families with children who are eligible for the National School Lunch Program.
"Broadband is our central platform in this 21st century for economic growth, innovation, and information. Broadband can be the great equalizer – giving every American with an Internet connection access to a world of new opportunities that might previously have been beyond their reach," FCC Chairman Genachowski said on Tuesday. "But roughly 100 million Americans are being bypassed by the broadband revolution. That's 68% of Americans who aren't connected at home. Compare that to South Korea and Singapore where adoption rates top 90%. Low-income Americans and minorities disproportionately find themselves on the wrong-side of this digital divide."
Closing this digital divide is an important mission for government bodies like the FCC and NTIA, because opportunities in health care, education and employment are increasingly tied to an individual's access to the Internet.
(Excerpt) Read more at betanews.com ...
total bs. in nyc if 50% of the kids qualify for lunch program everyone gets is.. so why should i subsidize something else?
Too bad us hillbillies in the rural areas won't have it until the 22nd century! Some of us are still converting from 8 track to cassettes!
Just a note before the full-scale bashing begins, this $10/month connection is pretty low on the bandwidth scale. It’s better than dial-up by a long stretch, but nowhere near the bandwidth of the higher-priced general market packages.
Honestly, if they just took off the means testing and made this a readily available package to everyone, it would still be reasonable — those who can afford it would likely prefer the higher-tier packages in the first place (though some may be happy with a lower speed if all they’re doing is email and web stuff that doesn’t use a lot of bandwidth).
And 52 inch plasma TV’s too.
Sooooo, if the guberment sez the poor can have hi-speed innernets...can the guberment dictate where you can go on the “information super hiway” and keep track of where you visit?
I think they can and will.
I’d gladly pay 10 bucks for fast innernets! Especially if there was no strings attached. People close to towns who have broadband tell me they’re paying around 50 bucks or more for their connection! No thanks. That’s grocery money to us!
I have comcast internet, I suspect to see a huge increase in my bill, which is already high, to pay for this.
I hear purveyors of porn sites collectively cheering at this news.
what are cassettes?
Isn’t there already free internet access at all libraries?
spreadin’ the bandwidth around....
Converting from 8-track to casettes! Quitter!
The 8-track tape player when plugged in to a Pickup is THE seminal invention of Western Civilization.
No other invention caused so much discussion or comment:
“Joe Bob, I believe yore tape done snarled up agin.”
“Shut up, Luke, I gotta screwdriver in the toolkit and can get the damn thing loose at the next beer stop.”
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