This TED Talk by Jeff Christensen is good and worth thirteen minutes of your time.
The idea of citizens becoming owners of their data networks instead of renters is one of this coalition’s key ideas too. It would not surprise us if in twenty years ISPs like Comcast are no longer here. ISPs like Comcast have no incentive to do anything more than to maximize profits by squeezing their customers. It is all they really care about – providing profits to shareholders. But you can only milk this gravy train for so long. And some point people say “Enough!” and demand their government respond. As these networks become commodities which any city or town can stand up, it’s possible to provide public digital roads for content of all kinds.
If we can keep moving a community network for Northampton forward through implementation, we the citizens of Northampton will be owners of our digital future too.