Saturday I heard somebody bragging about how fast the Internet is in Atlanta. That would be maybe a tenth of the speed it is in Tokyo. But still blazing fast compared to the broke-down wagon in a muddy ditch speeds we get in south Georgia:

I wrote that article more than a year ago, and Internet speeds in rural Georgia have not improved much if at all. This isn’t just about playing Farmville. It’s about communicating with your relatives, about competing in business, about knowing what’s going on in the world. If you’re limited to TV and the local newspaper for your “news” you won’t know diddly about what’s going on in Wisconsin or Egypt or Libya, all of which affects you. You won’t even be able to look up how your local, state, or national elected officials voted, or what their position is on issues that concern you. Like what are they doing to get you real fast Internet access!

You probably won’t even know that the plutocrats are working right now to slow, stifle, and censor the slow Internet we’ve got.

Without the Internet, local activism such as this blog would be hobbled. Sure, we could still video local government meetings and demonstrations, but what would we do with that video? Beg for a local access cable TV channel?

Here’s something an Industrial Authority interested in the public good and the general welfare might want to promote: fast Internet access for rural Georgia. Free speech, free press, free Internet trade!

-jsq

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