midrange.com -- CPF0000 -- Re: Subsidizing Internet access (was: A Modern Fairy Tale)

I knew that this would draw someone out!

I wrote: 
>> Does the fact that the government subsidized the development of the internet 
>> obligate the government 
>> to subsidize access to the internet?  Clearly, the answer is no.

Tom Liotta wrote:

>> Hmmm... "Clearly"? I'm not sure where it's at all clear. In fact, quite the 
>> opposite. I believe it's 
>> Constitutionaslly mandated that the federal government subsidize Internet 
>> access for U.S. citizens 
>> and businesses.
. . . 
>> And that brings us to Article I, Section 8., "Congress shall have power... 
>> To establish post offices 
>> and post roads;".

>> If the Internet isn't a system of information delivery -- in effect a postal 
>> system -- I don't know what it is.

You do indeed have the right section of the Constitution, since the internet 
can be construed as a giant post road.  This section gave the Feds the power to 
make the "post road".  No where does it require that post roads and post 
offices be established, or that the access to them be universal.  We pay the 
costs of the post office through postage charges (as you note below), and in 
fact in order to have mail delivered we are required to pay for an approved 
mailbox, and maintain easy access to that mailbox for the mail carrier.  That 
can certainly be equated to having to paying for a computer and ISP.

>> I think it would be easy to argue that the federal government should indeed 
>> subsidize the Internet. 
>> And I have no doubt that Congress could be swayed in favor based upon 
>> Article I, Section 8. And on 
>> that same basis, I have no doubt that it would be upheld in the face of a 
>> court challenge.

Arguing "should" is very different from arguing "is obliged to".

Universal internet access is low on the priority list of where tax money should 
be spend, far below public safety, education, health care, and debt 
elimination.  Given (as pointed out by Alan E) that libraries provide public 
internet access, and the plethora of free email services, one could argue that 
it is in fact already there.

>> Somewhere right around then, I predict that reality will become pretty much 
>> as you "clearly" thought 
>> should not happen. I think it should happen. In fact, I think it's 
>> inevitable.

Sigh . . . you are probably right.


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