Group Releases White Papers On Broadband Future Campaign to Ensure Open, Democratic, and Competitive Internet Launched Group Releases First in a Series of White Papers On the Broadband Future of the Internet Washington, DC: A initiative designed to help ensure that the benefits of the new high-speed Internet will reach all Americans was launched today by the Center for Media Education (CME). The project, through a series of white papers, conferences, and other outreach activities, has four basic goals: o To inform the public and policymakers alike about the need for a twenty-first-century Internet that is openly accessible by all; o To stimulate the development of public-interest programming in the new broadband environment; o To encourage nonprofit civic, educational, consumer, and cultural organizations to work together in constructing the online "civic sector" that American society will need in the twenty-first century. o To help other community organizations to begin planning now for the kinds of local informational networks that should be built into the new broadband delivery systems. "We're all excited by the prospects for 'Internet 2.0,'" explained Jeff Chester, executive director of CME. "But in our enthusiasm for the technological breakthroughs, we mustn't lose sight of the need to make certain that the new telecommunications infrastructure serves everyone-including nonprofits, small businesses, and the average citizen. High-speed connections to the home will mean little if they are controlled exclusively by the large cable companies, including AT&T and Time Warner, for the purpose of advancing their own positions in the media marketplace." The project's first white paper, "Song of the Open Road: Building a Broadband Network for the Twenty-first Century," co-authored by Gary O. Larson and Jeff Chester, is now available on the CME web site . It details the growing movement to resist the efforts, by AT&T and others, to design and deploy a new broadband network based on the closed cable-TV model. Other reports will follow, covering a range of public-interest broadband applications, from campaign-finance reform to distance learning to cultural and community-affairs programming. CME will continue to work closely with the national consumer and public interest media community to help build a strong national coalition of groups supporting open and diverse access. The Center for Media Education is a national non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of electronic media, especially on the behalf of children and families. http://www.cme.org/openroad/ User Group Network News Education, learning, training, information, reference, school, college, - (11/28/99) Back to the Topic Index