The Bush Administration

The Bush Administration's Technology Agenda, released in April 2004, calls for universal, affordable access to broadband services by 2007. See www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/technology/tech1.html. On June 24, the President amplified the Administration's plans following a public demonstration of WiFi and other broadband wireless technologies at the Department of Commerce. The White House transcript of the President's remarks includes the following:

"[W]e want to help consumers find more ways to obtain affordable broadband access ..[One] promising new broadband technology is wireless. ... There are two kinds of wireless technology. One is called wi-fi. It works with a regular broadband connection. If you use that kind of connection, someone from their home or their office can set up a wireless network that covers the home or the office. For example, I was shown a wi-fi hookup today that enables somebody to load a system in their home that when their child comes home, if it's set up properly, they will be able come in, it'll trigger a noise, the person will look on their phone and see a picture of their kid coming in the home. It's pretty imaginative, isn't it? It's a -- it's just an illustration of what is possible -- of what is possible with this new broadband technology. ...

And people are going to take advantage of this -- like, cities are. Spokane, Washington, yesterday established a wi-fi hot zone that allows users within a hundred block area of the city to obtain wireless broadband access. Imagine if you're the head of a chamber of commerce of a city, and you say, gosh, our city is a great place to do business or to find work. We're setting up a wi-fi hot zone, which means our citizens are more likely to be more productive than the citizens from a neighboring community. It's a great opportunity."

See www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/06/20040624-7.html

During the President's visit, the Commerce Department released two new reports proposing changes in the way spectrum is managed. Summaries and links to the reports can be found here: www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/specpolini/factsheetspecpolini_06242004.htm

Senator Kerry's Campaign

On June 24, 2004, the Kerry campaign also announced a broadband agenda as part of the Senator's larger "plan to unleash the productive potential of the American economy by investing in technology, research and education." The campaign said that Kerry's plan will be paid for by "accelerating the transition to digital television", thus returning to the FCC approximately 300 MHz of spectrum now used for analog TV broadcasting. "This will not only raise $30 billion at public auction to fund science and technology innovation, but will free up spectrum to provide wireless broadband to all first responders [by the end of 2006] and expand the spectrum that is available for unlicensed wireless broadband. See www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/releases/pr_2004_0624.html.

In an accompanying policy paper, the campaign added this statement about the provision of more spectrum for unlicensed broadband services:

"The explosive growth of 'WiFi' shows the benefits of making some spectrum available on an unlicensed basis... This could be particularly important in rural areas, since the cost of deploying these new services could be 3-4 times cheaper than existing wireless technologies - increasing competition with cable and telephone companies. In addition, Kerry would make the regulatory changes that are needed to unleash new broadband networking technologies such as cognitive radio, mesh networks, ultra-wideband and software-defined radio." See www.johnkerry.com/pdf/pr_2004_0624b.pdf

Kerry's technology plan also seeks to "build an information society". Here is another excerpt that is especially relevant to Open Park's goal of creating a Mall-wide WiFi zone for museum goers and other park visitors:

"The evolution of the Internet and other information and communications technologies has been driven by bottom-up, decentralized "experiments" by individual users, independent developers, university researchers, companies, non-profits, and 'virtual communities. ' In some areas, there are appropriate steps that the government can take, working with the private sector, to promote key applications of IT that improve our quality of life. These include: ... support for R&D and pilot projects, and establishing longer-term national goals on the use of IT. John Kerry will direct his Cabinet to develop an "Innovation Agenda" built upon public-private partnerships that advance the following goals

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Put America's cultural heritage at the fingertips of every American. New technologies are allowing us to digitize America's vast treasure trove of historical documents, photographs, paintings, recordings, sculptures, and monuments. Currently, for example, the Smithsonian can only exhibit 2-3 percent of their holdings. Our goal should be to dramatically expand access to America's cultural heritage, working with our nation's libraries, archives, and museums" Ibid.