The Internet is just a bunch of servers and broadband cables and routers that traffic data around the world. But I think now the Internet is starting to become an entity that society views as a human thing.
I've talked a lot about the need to promote digital empowerment: to enable any American who wants high-speed Internet access, or broadband, to get it.
High-speed Internet access, or broadband, is giving entrepreneurs anywhere an unprecedented chance to disrupt entire industries and transform our country.
To bring the benefits of the digital age to all Americans, the FCC needs to make it easier for companies to build and expand broadband networks. We need to reduce the cost of broadband deployment, and we need to eliminate unnecessary rules that slow down or deter deployment.
It's vital that low-income Americans have access to communications services, including broadband Internet, which Lifeline helps to achieve.
Broadband Internet access shouldn't depend on who you are or where you're from.
Increasingly, meeting the connectivity needs of all Americans - no matter where you live - means freeing up spectrum to meet the growing demand for wireless broadband.
Broadband Internet access service is inherently an interstate service, and that is not a determination that just the FCC has made.
We need to build roads, bridges, airports, locks, dams, and rail that work for this century - not the last one. And let's not forget about updating our energy grid, repairing and replacing our water infrastructure and sewers, and making sure all Americans have access to broadband.
It is time for us to make a real commitment to our rural communities by expanding broadband, by supporting our farmers, by building affordable housing and taking on rural poverty. That's how we leave no one behind.
