Group announces 'Broadband Bill of Rights'

A group advocating broadband Internet access in rural areas of the US has announced a five-point "Broadband Bill of Rights" designed to guarantee Internet access far beyond the nation's cities and suburbs. The group also calls for stimulus funds to build IP infrastructure in rural areas.

The group, called the Rural Mobile Broadband Alliance, or RuMBA USA, outlined the following five key guiding principles in their initiative. They assert that all Americans have a right to network access that is:

1. Ubiquitous - Services and devices should work seamlessly everywhere: in rural, suburban and urban areas. America needs an additional two million square miles of coverage.

2. Safe - Americans need E911 with location service and an emergency Cell Broadcast System with weather and disaster alerting.  Katrina-like outages are unacceptable.

3. Mobile - Whether in the car, on the tractor, at home, in school, at work and all areas in between, our nation relies on mobility; our networks must reflect our lifestyle needs.

4. Affordable - Rural Americans demand competitive pricing for services and devices. We need the same or better services and devices as the rest of the country, at a fair price.

5. Sustainable - America must invest in next generation systems that can be operated at a profit and maintained by our local small town carriers. We must leap ahead, buy tomorrow's technologies, not yesterday's.

Do you agree with this initative? Will it help? Let me know in the comments area.