Weekend Update 3/20/10–The Broadband Plan Edition

BoomTown traveled to Washington, D.C., this week for festivities surrounding the 25th anniversary of the registration of the first .com domain name, and while in our nation’s capital, lugged a giant binder containing a paper printout of the National Broadband Plan to various historic spots for educational opportunities.

The FCC's National Broadband Paper Plan Gets a BoomTown Tour of the Nation's Capital!

When BoomTown went to Washington, D.C., last week to visit the Federal Communications Commission on the occasion of its release of the National Broadband Plan, I was actually given a paper version in a giant binder. Yes, at hundreds of pages, a dead-tree copy of a federal scheme to make the United States more digital! So, natch, I gave it a tour of the nation’s capital.

National Broadband Plan Guru Blair Levin Speaks! (Plus the Press Release and Exec Summary)

While trolling around Washington, D.C., this week, BoomTown dropped in on Blair Levin, the executive director of the National Broadband Plan, the opus just released by the Federal Communications Commission. Aimed primarily at boosting the proliferation of high-speed access across the United States, the plan has been shepherded by the telecommunications analyst and former FCC staffer.

Voices

FCC Eyes Average Internet Speeds for Rural Areas

With two months to go until the FCC is scheduled to unveil its plan for improving broadband service across the U.S., agency officials seem to be settling on relatively modest speeds for rural areas. Officials at the Federal Communications Commission looking at setting a floor for Internet speed to which all Americans have access, particularly in rural areas which still rely on dial-up Internet service.

Jerry Brown Tops Google/Yahoo Antitrust Pig Pile

Now that the Justice Department has asked a hotshot litigator to review the proposed search-advertising partnership between Google and Yahoo, everyone seems to be getting into the act. California Attorney General Jerry Brown is reportedly looking askance at the deal, apparently with an eye toward an investigation.