102 Executive Director of the FCC's Omnibus Broadband Initiative
Executive Director of the FCC’s Omnibus Broadband Initiative, explained that “[m]uch like the printing press allowed the power of information to diffuse from the hands of the elite few to the many, the Internet has allowed for the democratization of content,” and that even if we cannot “precisely predict our digital future we know that it leads to more . opportunities to communicate, more viewpoints, [and] more ideas.”299 It would be arbitrary and capricious for the Commission to ignore the dramatic impact on the manner in which people obtain news and information that the Internet has had in evaluating the instant request for waiver of the NBCO Rule, particularly given the agency’s and Congress’ recognition of the significance of the Internet in other contexts.300 http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-295241A1.pdf (last visited Jan. 28, 2010). 299 Wired for Social Justice, Speech by Blair Levin, Executive Director, Omnibus Broadband Initiative, at the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council’s Broadband and Social Justice Summit (Jan. 22, 2010) (emphasis in original), available at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-295886A1.pdf (last visited Jan. 28, 2010). Another high-ranking government official with responsibility for the nation’s broadband policies has echoed these sentiments. See The Internet: Evolving Responsibility for Preserving a First Amendment Miracle, Remarks of Lawrence E. Strickling, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, before The Media Institute (Feb. 24, 2010), available at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/presentations/2010/MediaInstitute_02242010.pdf (last visited Mar. 4, 2010) (recognizing that “[f]rom the very first encounter between our Constitution and the Internet, courts have recognized the Internet as an unprecedented gift to the First Amendment” and stating that “[t]he Internet, and particularly broadband Internet, are the central nervous system of our information economy and society”).
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