FCC’s Genachowski: Broadband is a Top Priority

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski equates universal broadband access with the building of railroads and highways — infrastructure projects that fueled US economic growth in the past, according to an article in The Washington Post. The article says the US government will soon announce the recipients of $7 billion in grants for broadband access projects — as well as a plan to bring broadband to the approximately 10% of the US that does not currently have it.  Other countries, as we noted here, have taken similar steps.

News Bits

> Following Finland’s lead, Spain is codifying the right to broadband access for all Spanish citizens, effective in 2011.
 
> The FBI has issued an advisory warning that hackers are increasingly targeting law firms and PR firms — looking for documents comprising their clients “playbooks for the deal(s).”
 
> Federal employees may soon be prohibited from using peer-to-peer file sharing software.

Broadband Abroad

Finland has become the first country to legally guarantee broadband access (a one megabit connection starting in July; and a 100 megabit per second connection by the end of 2015).