The following is an essay written for my college composition class that argues the case that the government should invest in expanding internet infrastructure.

The United States government should invest in expanding and improving the internet infrastructure in the United States so that more people will have affordable and quick access to a global marketplace of commerce and free ideas.  The age of the internet is possibly the most important time in human civilization since the industrial revolution.  Although the internet is extremely large and complex the internet can be summed up as a technology that accomplishes three very important functions; Communication, Cooperation, and Commerce.  One of the best aspects about the internet is perhaps its largest criticism that it gives a soapbox for everyone to stand on.  The internet delivers the promise of free speech for everyone, no longer will the people have to rely on organized and well funded newspapers, television shows, or radio broadcasts to deliver their message, the neutrality of the internet gives equal voice to everyone, of any class, background, and socio-economic standing this is the communication function.  The internet saw its start as a government military project, originally called “ARPANET” the goal of the project was to create a military communications network that could withstand a massive nuclear exchange.  Utilizing a system called “packet switching” that would find new routes to send data through in the event that one of the paths was jammed or destroyed the system would be more stable than current telephone systems.  As the project went on a second use besides military communication came into focus, cooperation, if scientists all over the globe could integrate computers and the internet into their experiments they could collaborate, with one another and synergize their efforts.  Wikipedia is an example of a website that fits into the collaboration category, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia that anyone can edit and provide their knowledge for several hundred millions of people to read.  Although Wikipedia is open to constant vandalism, the benefits of the openness far outweigh the drawbacks, making Wikipedia today the largest encyclopedia in the world.  Of course the internet would not be as popular as it is today without the support of enterprise, this is the commerce function.  Companies like Amazon.com and Netflix are web based companies that have found great success online from customers, other websites such as Facebook, the Google search engine, and You Tube sell advertising space on their sites.  The internet is not just for major corporations to make money, small businesses can also utilize the internet to make money, for example a small site called NextGenWalkthroughs.com was started by two young guys in their 20s who like to play video games and create game guides for other players.  Before the internet it would cost a huge investment to start a media company, whether it be magazine or book publishing, television or radio broadcasting, or newspaper printing.  With the internet today, there is no need to purchase massive printing machines or barrels of paper, there is no need to purchase expensive broadcasting equipment, no massive broadcasting tower ever needs to be erected on a high hill, FCC license do not need to be acquired the old model is a closed club, with a massive barrier to entry.  According to a recent study by the President’s National Broadband Commission  83% of broadband users made an online purchase, 69% used online banking services, and 55% submitted a review for a product online (qtd. in “Current State”).  The internet as a tool for commerce is clearly very popular.  The version of the internet as we know it “went online” in the early 1990s and almost twenty years later there are just over 800 million worldwide internet users, just over 500 million of those users speak English (“Global Internet Usage.” wikipedia.com. wikipedia, n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2010, the number 500 million also represents the current population of Facebook users (“500 million stories.” Blog.facebook.com. facebook blog, n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2010), which in 2009 had a revenue of $800 million (“Facebook ’09 Revenue neared 800mn.” Economictimes.indiatimes.com. economic times, n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2010).  The internet is clearly a game changer, unfortunately there are some people living in the United States today, mostly in rural areas who do not have access to the internet, and today with the ever increasing amount of bandwidth consuming high definition movies, videos, and high quality music downloads, simply having dial-up internet is not going to cut it, high speed bandwidth is now required to participate in the global marketplace of ideas and products.  There are many barriers to entry that limit a person’s access to high speed internet, two major limitations, include cost, and simply not having it available in a given area.  In most areas Internet Service Providers or ISPs have exorbitantly high costs with speeds that are incredibly low, a report by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) ranked the US 28^th in internet speeds with an average speed of 5.1 Mbps compared to South Korea’s 20.4 Mbps (“US ranks 28^th in internet connection speed.” Psysorg.com. psysorg, n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2010) the US is trailing behind but costs make us believe that we are ahead, and in most areas with only a couple of ISPs competition is non existent.  In some rural areas of the country where customers are willing to pay money ISPs have simply not invested in providing internet access to areas of low population density.  If the US government provided high speed internet access to customers nation wide, it would strengthen our economy, democracy, education, and out competiveness abroad.

Providing internet access to Americans without it would be very similar to President Roosevelt’s rural electrification program during the great depression.  Expanding internet access would provide jobs for people to lay the wires and build the equipment necessary to expand the infrastructure, but it would also create long term jobs by building office branches for the internet companies in new areas of the country.   Another boost internetification would bring to the economy would be that it would potentially add millions more would be consumers and internet entrepreneurs to the global marketplace.  Just like the government is required to maintain the streets and sidewalks that provide access to businesses, the government must maintain access to businesses in cyberspace.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, total Internet e-commerce sales for 2008 were $133.7 billion (“IAB Internet advertising revenue report.” iab.net. Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2010) clearly the internet is a major part of the economy.

The internet is now a major function of our nation’s democracy, by providing free speech in ways never before seen.  Before the internet free speech for individuals consisted mainly of what one could speak outloud or write, but freedom of the press was largely enjoyed by those with money, as being part of the press was big business.  Thanks to the internet and the neutrality of the way the data is transmitted, anyone with something to say has a means to reach a massive worldwide audience.  Internet users can use a service called You Tube that is a free service that allows people to submit videos that can be viewed by several millions of viewers world wide for free, in the past that would have never been heard of.  The internet is a very important tool for our democracy, if everyone has a voice they will no longer have to worry about the traditional media being corrupted by advertisesers, now the people have the voices that they never had before.  Expanding the internet will strengthen our nation’s democracy.

The internet has changed the way we learn, thanks to websites like Wikipedia users can learn a multitude of very diverse topics, from the way the government of the United States functions, to the history of door hinges.  In the past people would learn only about what is around them, the internet broadens our horizons by giving us access to a global community of ideas.  No longer are people only exposed to what is in their environment, now someone in Kansas can learn about how someone in Tibet lives, and an expanded worldview and understanding of cultures will help improve our own culture and help us communicate with others in fan ever shrinking world.

Works Cited

“Current State.” Broadband.gov. National Broadband Plan, Web. 7 Dec. 2010

“Global Internet Usage” wikipedia.com. Wikipedia, Web. 7 Dec. 2010

“US Ranks 28^th In Internet Connection Speed” psysorg.com. Psysorg, 2009. Web. 7 Dec. 2010

“IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report” iab.net. Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), 2009. Web. 7 Dec. 2010

“500 million stories.” Blog.facebook.com. Facebook Blog, 2010 . Web. 7 Dec. 2010

“Facebook ’09 Revenue neared 800mn.” Economictimes.indiatimes.com. Economic Times, 2010. Web. 7 Dec. 2010

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