Time to Reboot.

• Author: DiNovella, Elizabeth
• Position: Comment - Viewpoint essay

Our energy crisis is getting a lot of press these days, for good reason. But another tiny cartel has set prices high, and created false scarcity around another vital resource: bandwidth.

Yes, bandwidth, as in high-speed Internet, also known as broadband. The telecom industry is strangling us with high prices, limited availability, and slow connections. In the industrialized world, Americans pay the eighth-highest monthly rates for broadband service. And the service we get is pokier than what's available in France or Japan.

Under the Bush Administration, we've fallen behind on broadband distribution compared to other nations. We've gone from being fourth in 2001 to fifteenth in 2007, lagging behind Iceland and South Korea. The U.S. ranks twenty-second when it comes to cost--it's cheaper in Portugal and Turkey.

This is the direct result of living under an Administration that philosophically believes government does not have a responsibility for the common good. The Internet is a common good. Roads are a common good. Bridges are a common good. Education is a common good. All are crumbling.

We need a national tech policy that reflects the emancipatory possibilities of the Internet in the twenty-first century, rather then the profit motives of large corporations.

The digital divide has gotten worse under Bush. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, only 35 percent of households with annual incomes under $50,000--about half the country--had broadband in 2007. (In 2001, when cheap dial-up service dominated the industry, it was slightly better.) Meanwhile, the vast majority of the rich surf at high speeds: 82 percent of households with incomes $75,000 and higher subscribed to broadband in 2007.

The disparity between racial groups regarding broadband has not improved since Bush took office. In 2007, 55 percent of white, non-Hispanic Americans had high-speed Internet; for black households, 36 percent; Latinos, 35 percent; Native Americans, a dismal 30 percent, down from 38 percent in 2001.

There's also a geographic dimension to the digital divide: Less than 40 percent of rural households subscribe to broadband. Ten million rural families could not even get broadband if they wanted.

In June, academics, activists, and computer industry leaders launched the "Internet for Everyone" initiative to organize public support for improving broadband accessibility.

David All, a Republican technology consultant and member of the Internet for Everyone coalition...