Think of the corporation for public broadcasting, and then think what the corporation for public internet could do for all of us

A Public Fiber Optic Internet

Imagine if we ran our roads the way we run the internet, which is to say, imagine we leased them out to be maintained by private companies, and allowed them to charge for access. Before too long, an onramp to 95 might look something like this:

For-profit enterprise is great in many situations, but obviously it's not the right tool for every job; sometimes, it's downright ridiculous. When it comes to something that we all need, and can easily provide for ourselves through our government, it makes no sense to pay someone else to do it for us. Yet in the case of the internet, that's exactly what we're doing.

We all rely on transportation in one way or another --- almost everyone accepts that. Therefore, in Connecticut, we wisely choose not to squabble over who should pay what by means of toll booths. The cost of doing that --- all the toll equipment and the time and gas as we idol waiting to get through, is an enormous waste. That would pale in comparison, moreover, to the cost of profit taking if a private company were running our roads for us.

It may not seem fair to everyone down to the last penny --- especially those who don't much travel or consume goods shipped over the roads. But with the money we save on an infrastructure whose only utility would have been for us to nikel and dime eachother, we can invest in something useful for all of us, or it can be returned to the taxpayers. Both of these have the added bonus of stimulating the economy. In the long run, we all benefit.

We all want to provide a decent education to every child, because you never know who might have become a surgeon when you need one. We all want to reduce and ultimately elimiinate our dependence on foreign oil. And, we all want to stimulate our economy.

Providing a public information superhighway in the form of the internet over a fiber-optic network, in the same way we do regular highways, makes perfect sense. The internet has become the world's classroom and public library. Telecommuting could potentially save U.S. consumers trillions of dollars every year. And more reliable communications. 10 times faster or more than current high speed cable internet, for businesses and consumers will improve efficiency and directly stimulate the economy.

Best of all, because this would not be a for-profit venture, we'll have none of the costs of profit taking (such as marketing, customer service, billing, collections, and gate-keeping). Therefore, the cost of doing this would be incredibly cheap --- when current spending on internet and telecommunications by consumers, businesses, and the government are tallied, we're confident the project would pay for itself within a few years.

We propose constructing a state-wide, public door-to-door fiber-optic network, freely available to everyone.

In the mean time, we also propose immediate steps to allow any person or business to "open" their personal wireless networks so that they may share their connection with others, with zero liability for the actions taken by others while using their connection. This would have to be done at the state and federal level; the former can be accomplished directly with a ballot initiative. The second is trickier, but a ballot initiative could establish that anyone leaving their wireless network open for the use of others is acting in the best interests of the state, and further direct the attorney general to defend any and all claims against such entities.

A child's future shouldn't depend on whether his parents provide him the enrichment of the internet available to other children --- not when providing the internet to everyone will actually save us money. And in the mean time, well meaning people should not have to worry that their generosity will expose them to a lawsuit.