Wednesday, November 5, 2008

The Other Election

In the midst of all the chaos yesterday, I almost forgot what could turn out to be the most important long-term decision besides BARACK OBAMA'S ELECTION TO THE PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES. It's a subtle one:

Quite literally thanks to the tireless efforts of commenter helen, the FCC voted 5-0 yesterday to commit the part of the spectrum currently used by broadcast television to mobile broadband once we switch over to all-HD in January. This is the best possible news about the future of the internet: soon enough, we will be able to access the web from anywhere we can get a television signal, which means that huge portions of the country will finally be able to do things like watch YouTube videos and stream news.

I won't go so far as to say that this would change everything in this country... but no, it's gonna change everything.

5 comments:

  1. that's an extremely interesting point. in addition to it just being tight as hell to possibly have wireless access as wirespread as TV airwaves are (if i understand you correctly), it's also very, very intriguing to see how those in more remote areas will be affected by this. i take for granted how easy it is to watch stuff on youtube, download podcasts and stay informed. in a lot of places, including rural Virginia where much of my family is from, the internet is not easily accessible. very cool.

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  2. http://tomhanksrocket.ytmnd.com/

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  3. @dcjonesy: I'm not sure of the technical details and it seems like they'll have to overcome the problem of getting a signal from the computer to the tower, but it really is one of those things that's as cool as it sounds.

    And yeah, I can't wait to see how this changes the intellectual life of the country. No matter what the end result is, more information = better.

    @nimsofa: That, sadly, is an excellent point.

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  4. Thanks for the post on this! The work is far from over, but it a HUGE step in the direction of ubiquitous broadband. Coupled with Obama stating that rural bb is one of his top priorities we may have a shot at making the basic human rights of access to knowledge and freedom of expression a reality in this country. As well as the right to freedom of assembly, as the Internet now serves that purpose as well.

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  5. I should add, thanks only in part to my efforts - many groups worked on this; MDF just provided funding and some organizing/connecting of the grassroots and policy groups.

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