The Internet Innovation Alliance is a broad-based coalition of business and non-profit organizations that aim to ensure every American, regardless of race, income or geography, has access to the critical tool that is broadband Internet. The IIA seeks to promote public policies that support equal opportunity for universal broadband availability and adoption so that everyone, everywhere can seize the benefits of the Internet - from education to health care, employment to community building, civic engagement and beyond.
The leaders and supporters
of IIA
Bruce P. Mehlman
Co-Chairman
David Sutphen
Co-Chairman
Tracey Sawicki
Executive Director
Larry Irving
Former Co-Chairman
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Special Reports
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IIA’s Response to the FCC NOI on Broadband Reclassification
Consumer Benefits of Broadband Study
Net Neutrality, Investment & Jobs: Assessing the Potential Impacts of the FCC’s Proposed Regulations
The Internet Regulation Debate
What top telecom analysts and the media have to say about Title II
The National Broadband Plan
Laying out a bold roadmap to America's future
The Digital Divide
Addressing the digital divide goes beyond providing access
Jobs and Investment
Broadband enables new job creation
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Blog posts tagged with 'Broadband'
Tuesday, August 24
A recent study shows that employment levels within Internet companies are up 13 percent since the recession officially started in December 2007.
— Mandel, Michael, “The Coming Communications Boom?” Progressive Policy Institute, April 2010. Web. 28 Jul 2010.
Learn more facts in our ever-expanding Broadband Fact Book.
Thursday, July 29
Four years ago, Congress banned Internet gambling. But as the New York Times reports, there is growing momentum around repealing the law:
On Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee approved a bill that would effectively legalize online poker and other nonsports betting, overturning a 2006 federal ban that critics say merely drove Web-based casinos offshore.
The bill would direct the Treasury Department to license and regulate Internet gambling operations, while a companion measure, pending before another committee, would allow the Internal Revenue Service to tax such businesses. Winnings by individuals would also be taxed, as regular gambling winnings are now.
It’s estimated that taxes on gambling could bring in $42 billion for the government over ten years.
Tuesday, July 27
Online video has been called the future of television, but as the Los Angeles Times points out, providing a reliable measurement of online viewers is still a challenge:
The stakes for getting it right have never been higher. Advertisers are expected to spend $25.1 billion this year in online advertising in the U.S. alone, according to researcher EMarketer.
“The inconsistencies across methodologies and venders and the cacophony of numbers in the marketplace are clearly confusing,” said Sherrill Mane, a senior vice president of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, a trade group that has been advocating for greater accountability in online measurement. “They’re truly hampering the growth of the medium.”
The three dominant measurement firms — ComScore, Nielsen and Quantcast — have been working since 2007 with an independent media auditing group to make improvements so the Web data they report don’t have a fun-house quality, in which the same site’s traffic can look emaciated or bulging, depending on the viewer’s angle.
“It’s maddening,” said Tim Hanlon, a Chicago digital media strategist. “You would think 15 years on, we would be in a better place. But we’re still talking about fundamental discrepancies in things like page counts.”
Thursday, July 01
Last October, officials in Finland announced it would decree that every citizen had a legal right to broadband. Today, the BBC reports, that decree became official.
Tuesday, June 29
Yesterday, NPR’s “All Things Considered” aired a segment on America’s broadband infrastructure and the FCC’s proposed Internet regulations. Our own Bruce Mehlman was interviewed for the piece.
Monday, June 21
A group of bipartisan leaders overseeing America’s communications policies have announced they will be holding a series of sessions about overhauling communication laws. The first set of staff-led stakeholder sessions will address broadband regulation and FCC authority, with a focus on protecting consumers and promoting broadband investment. The first session will be held on June 25, 2010. After these sessions are concluded, additional stakeholder meetings will be convened to address spectrum policy and broadband deployment and adoption.
Wednesday, June 02
A report released yesterday by the FCC finds that in the U.S., four out of five broadband subscribers don’t know how fast their Internet connection is. From a post about the report at Broadband.gov:
Today, we’re releasing the results of a national survey that shows just how large the information gap is when it comes to broadband. According to this survey, fully 80 percent of Americans with broadband at home don’t know what speed they’re getting. This survey was done through a major firm and drew on a national sample of three thousand consumers.
Not noted in the Broadband.gov post, but cited in the report, is that 91% of the respondents to the survey were “at least somewhat satisfied” with the speed of their service, with 50% stating they were very satisfied.
Thursday, May 06
In response to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s announcement of new regulations on broadband, the two Republicans commissioners at the FCC have released a dissenting statement:
JOINT STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONERS ROBERT M. McDOWELL AND MEREDITH A. BAKER
Today the Commission embarks on a journey to cross a regulatory Rubicon by classifying Internet access service as traditional telephone service under Title II of the Communications Act. This proposal is disappointing and deeply concerns us. It is neither a light-touch approach nor a third way. Instead, it is a stark departure from the long-established bipartisan framework for addressing broadband regulation that has led to billions in investment and untold consumer opportunities. It also poses serious ramifications across the globe.
After several government investigations, no evidence of systemic failure in the broadband market has been presented to justify this new, more onerous regulatory regime. Additionally, without a specific mandate from Congress, the appellate courts are likely to hand the Commission another stinging rebuke for attempting to shatter the boundaries of its statutory authority. This proposal risks the credibility of our institution: Government agencies simply cannot create new legal powers beyond those granted by Congress.
In the interim, as the Commission has been warned by a wide variety of investors, an attempt to foist burdensome rules excavated from the early-Ma Bell-monopoly era onto 21st Century networks will usher in a tumultuous new age of regulatory uncertainty that will inhibit the investment of risk capital America badly needs to improve and expand our broadband infrastructure and create jobs.
Fundamentally, this dramatic step to regulate the Internet is unnecessary. The recent Comcast decision leaves the Commission with ample authority to implement the most important portions of the National Broadband Plan, should it choose to do so. We look forward to learning from the debate and remain hopeful for a fair, transparent and efficient process that leads to a final decision well rooted in both the facts and the law.
Monday, April 19
That’s how much companies are planning to invest this year alone in areas such as information technology and wireless infrastructure upgrades, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In other words, the Internet business is booming.
Monday, April 05
41% of students use email and messaging to contact teachers or classmates about schoolwork.
“September Commission Meeting” Federal Communications Commission. September 29, 2009.
Tuesday, March 23
Minority-owned small businesses are growing four times faster than all U.S. firms, accounting for over 50% of the 2 million businesses started in the U.S.
Matt Warner, “Opportunities For Disadvantaged Businesses,” Blogband. October 6, 2009.
Wednesday, March 10
Massively Multiplayer Online games — think World of Warcraft — are big business in the United States. How big? According to Games Industry, in 2009 there were 46 million players. And all told, those players spent a staggering $3.8 billion.
Friday, March 05
IIA Co-chairman Bruce Mehlman has an op-ed today on AOL News:
High-speed Internet connections are helping to change the meaning of a snow day—serving as a vital tool to keep Americans working, even when the roads, public transportation and airports are not. For those who could go online from home during the storms, it was largely business as usual.
But clearly not enough could. The “Snowmageddon” of 2010 forced federal offices to shut their doors for days, resulting in an astounding loss of money and productivity. It’s been estimated that closing the government for just one day costs taxpayers roughly $100 million. If you factor in the business shutdowns in the private sector, it is easy to see that these storms exacted a high cost on the nation as whole.
The problem is that currently about a third of the population doesn’t have a broadband connection, and one in five don’t have any Internet connection at all.
Thursday, March 04
Jay Ganson, Business Development Manager of Ambient Corporation, discusses his company’s communication platform for interfacing smartgrid technology.
Thursday, February 25
The New York Times looks at the positive effect the Internet is having on television:
The Nielsen Company, which measures television viewership and Web traffic, noticed this month that one in seven people who were watching the Super Bowl and the Olympics opening ceremony were surfing the Web at the same time.
“The Internet is our friend, not our enemy,” said Leslie Moonves, chief executive of the CBS Corporation, which broadcast both the Super Bowl and the Grammy Awards this year. “People want to be attached to each other.”
Seeking to capitalize on the online water-cooler effect, NBC showed the Golden Globes live on both coasts for the first time this year, and the network reportedly wants to do the same for the Emmy Awards this fall, so the entire country can watch (and chat online) simultaneously.
Wednesday, February 24
Brian Foley, Provost of North Virginia Community College Medical Education Campus, discusses workforce development for the use of broadband.
Wednesday, February 10
Telecommuting has a number of benefits, from lower overhead costs for businesses to reduced energy consumption. But as an article in today’s USA Today points out, the ability to work from home via broadband also has its downside (for employees, that is). Namely, snow days are no longer days off.
Tuesday, February 09
Marcia Thomas-Brown, Program Manager for the National Health IT Collaborative for the Underserved, discusses the economic benefits of broadband in the field of health care.
Tuesday, February 02
Joseph Fuhr, Professor of Economics at Widener University, discusses broadband, the macro-economy, and the multiplier effect.
Monday, February 01
Today’s New York Times looks at the expansion of broadband on language education services:
With the growth of broadband connectivity and social networks, companies have introduced a wide range of Internet-based language learning products, both free and fee-based, that allow students to interact in real time with instructors in other countries, gain access to their lesson plans wherever they are in the world, and communicate with like-minded virtual pen pals who are also trying to remember if bambino means baby.
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