At MIO, we’re well aware that broadband isn’t being used to its full potential because not enough of the right people know what it is or what it can do for them. And since they don’t know what they’re missing, they’re not asking policymakers or the companies that provide broadband to make it more accessible. This is, in essence, the underlying problem that will perpetuate the digital divide.

Our nation’s goal is to decrease that divide: to help key decision-makers understand what broadband is and why they need it; encourage companies and policymakers to make it widely available; and help communities make the most of the opportunities it offers for economic development, increased quality and reach of services, and jobs.

WASHINGTON, November 25, 2009 – The rhetoric surrounding whether the Federal Communications Commission should move forward with rules to regulate internet access to support the principle of network neutrality took on new legs this week when a government official – a former top policy official at Google – conflated net neutrality, free speech and anti-government censorship in the same discussion.

It comes at a time that the FCC has already moved away from the controversial term “network neutrality” to focus instead on the importance of ensuring that an “open internet” exists going forward.

WASHINGTON, November 22, 2009 – Speakers at a telecommunications law conference held last week touched on the importance of having unfiltered access to the Internet around the world.

“The freedom of speech implies a freedom of access,” said Jeremie Zimmermann, co-founder of La Quadrature Du Net. “This is a form of participating in politics and with other citizens,” he continued at the second annual University of Nebraska College of Law’s Space and Telecom Law Conference held in Washington on Thursday.