Broadband Bill of Rights / firstmile.us

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Big Broadband Bill of Rights

Preamble
During the last 20 years, the main tenets of Internet development included building and sustaining an open, interoperable, scalable network of networks that robustly supports a variety of applications and devices. As we look forward to a ubiquitous big broadband environment, these basic philosophies still hold true.

To understand how big broadband should evolve, it is essential to understand the three distinct portions of a big broadband connection.

The first is the pipe -- essentially the path, street or highway connecting you to the rest of the broadband network. These can be wireless or wired or a combination of the two.

The second portion is the applications – this is what you can do over the broadband pipe. These are sometimes software-based, but may be built-in to certain devices.

And, finally, there are devices and computers that you need to attach to your pipe that provide specific functions to help you more readily access applications.

These articles will best ensure the benefits of big broadband for all members of the American public.

Article 1. The Pipe
1.1 You have the right to a big broadband pipe -- no matter where you live, work or play. The pipe must be fast enough to support what you want to accomplish and must provide symmetric service.

1.2 You have the right to expect that any group with a reasonable business case will be able to provide a pipe to you including municipalities, telephone companies, cable companies, electric companies, community groups and others that may want to invest in you and your community.

1.3 You have the right to an affordable level of service.

1.4 You have the right to attach consumer devices and computers to the pipe as you see fit.

1.5 You have the right to use any application which you need or want to use, without restriction from the pipe provider, within the scope of the law.

1.6 You have the right to trust that public libraries and/or other publicly supported venues in your local community are available to serve your needs, if you do not have access to a pipe. You have the right to expect them to be funded for this activity, open during reasonable hours including nights and weekends and have up-to-date devices and applications for accessing the broadband connection.

Article 2. The Applications
2.1 You have the right to use any and all applications without restriction that meet your needs and wants, within the scope of the law.

2.2 You have the right to encourage educators, medical professionals, businesses, the government and entertainment companies to provide reasonable access to their services through your big broadband connection.

2.3 You have the right to trust that others will respect your copyright ownership. In turn, you shall respect the copyright protections afforded to us and compensate copyright owners per their request.

2.4 You have the right to widespread availability of entertainment, business, healthcare and education applications, especially if you live, work or play in an area where traditional options are limited.

2.5 You have the right to increased bandwidth that applications will require as they become more advanced, interactive and powerful.

Article 3. The Devices
3.1 You have the right to connect consumer devices, computers and appliances to your big broadband connection without restriction.

3.2 You have the right to widespread availability of entertainment, business, healthcare and education devices especially if you live in areas where traditional options are limited.

3.3. You have the right to expect that industry and government will provide an ever-broadening array of devices that will utilize your big broadband connection to support your needs in healthcare, business, education and entertainment.

Article 4. Public Officials
4.1 You have the right to expect your elected officials at the local, state and federal levels to be aware of the importance of big broadband and create laws that catalyze the development of big broadband pipes, applications and devices for your use. They shall not restrict any aspect of big broadband development or availability unless public safety is in question. They shall look at all aspects of your health and welfare to ensure that laws are created and modified to ensure that big broadband can drive economic development and better jobs, better healthcare and a stronger educational system for your community.

4.2 You have the right to expect your regulatory officials at the local, state and federal levels to be aware of the importance of big broadband and provide the absolute minimum regulatory rulemaking to ensure competition, to ensure ubiquity, to ensure the speed of connection that each individual requires and to ensure that solutions are developed for hard-to-reach and disadvantaged members of the public.

+ see Big Broadband Bill of Rights for Discussion: here


BACKGROUND

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+ firstmile.us press coverage here