Internet Being Considered a Right Instead of A Privilege

Thanks to my opponent for his arguments. First, I would like to point out that Pro's resolution is a bit vague. There are four main dimensions to the requirement of providing "broadband Internet access for all":1) The first is timeliness. In other words, how quickly would this need to occur to satisfy Pro? 2) How do we define "all"? 3) The second is cost. Who would pay for this? 4) What Internet speed would satisfy the definition of broadband? Of these four dimensions, Pro has only defined the fourth, speed, choosing 5-6 mbps as defining broadband. Personally, I think 3-4 mbps is adequate to get a great deal of internet use, but this dimension is the least important of the four.I will start by addressing dimensions one and two: who has and needs broadband and how soon they might get it.According to the Dept. of Commerce, broadband use in 2010 was 68% of households (1). Using that figure and the total United States population, we do indeed get a figure close to Pro's number: 100,000,000. However, this is deceiving. First, this represents how many use broadband, not how many have access. Many have access but choose to not subscribe. The DOC information (1) states that the reasons for not subscribing are:1) lack of need or interest (47 percent)2) lack of affordability (24 percent)3) inadequate computer (15 percent)Note: the 68% figure is the percentage of households with broadband overall. So, the 32% who do not have broadband includes both those who do not have the option and those who choose not to subscribe.According to the FCC, the actual number who lack broadband access is about 19,000,000 (3). In fact, if you look at the actual report, they also report that the number with "Either Fixed or Mobile Broadband" is 5.5 million. This same report shows continued increases in broadband adoption rates from 2010 to 2011:At least 768 kbps 62.6% to 64.0%At least 3 mbps, 36.6% to 40.4%Internet adoption rates have grown almost continuously since 1995 (4). While the Pew research graph shows a leveling off in the last few years, that is likely explained partially by the economy. Looking more at the Pew data, one can see that older, less educated and poorer Americans use the internet much less. Of those three categories, providing more broadband would only really address poorer Americans.As shown above, 47% of those who opt out of subscribing do so because they lack the need or interest. Older Americans also have less interest in broadband. Of the 5.5 million who currently have no access to broadband, we can assume that 47% (2.6 million) would choose not to use it, leaving 53% (2.9 million) who lack access but desire it.This is a classic example of government stepping in for an easy victory. The debate becomes riddled with propaganda, such as the 100,000,000 figure. When you factor in the ability to get access from friends, school and libraries, these figures drop even more.Would Pro argue that those who do not need or desire broadband should get it anyway? As a taxpayer, I would strongly object. Access to broadband continues to grow. The Dept. of Commerce numbers show that use grew from 64% in 2009 to 68% in 2010. In other words, not only is the number of Americans without broadband relatively small, but progress is already being made. How soon is fast enough? Regarding cost, we cannot ignore that this is a matter of economics. Economics, at it's heart, concerns the allocation of scarce resources. If additional taxes are spent on broadband, what other resources might have benefited more? Is it appropriate to fund this at a time when our yearly deficit is more than $1 trillion and our national debt is over $16 trillion? In addition, we will need to consider the purchase of computers to facilitate this for many Americans. Not only that, but providing access for the "last mile" of connectivity is very expensive. Pro has also argued that broadband access is a right based on both the first and ninth amendment. This is really stretching the use of the constitution. The intent of the first amendment is to ensure that ones right to speak freely is not violated. That is, that your are not being coerced in some way in order to prevent speech. Pro's link on wikipedia seems to argue that lack of access to the internet's content violates free speech. If this is true, then surely all books ever written should be free to all. Clearly, that is not the case either now or was it anytime after 1791. It would seem Pro's argument could also apply to magazines, newspapers, telephones and telegraphs. Yet, these technologies did not need coercion in order for adoption to occur. I should also point out that Pro's wikipedia link is mainly addressing scenarios where government has used force in order to censor the internet. Clearly that isn't the same as a situation were one voluntarily chooses to live where access isn't available or chooses not to subscribe. Regarding the ninth amendment, this is even more of a stretch. Can this amendment really be interpreted to force certain Americans to hand over payment to others so that they may have access to broadband internet? If that were true, then surely the Supreme Court would have used this argument for Obamacare instead of the commerce clause.I personally find irony in these constitutional arguments. Our founders desired a limited government because of the experiences they had with the British crown. Today, we use this same document in order to grow a government that has already grown far beyond it's original intent. In fact, I would argue that allowing for federal funding of the internet may actually lead to abuses of power. (1) http://www.esa.doc.gov...(2) http://en.wikipedia.org...(3) http://www.fcc.gov...(4) http://pewinternet.org...