>From ars technica<br><a href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070719-broadband-data-improvement-act-clears-senate-commerce-committee.html">http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070719-broadband-data-improvement-act-clears-senate-commerce-committee.html
</a><br clear="all"><h1><a href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070719-broadband-data-improvement-act-clears-senate-commerce-committee.html">Broadband Data Improvement Act clears Senate Commerce Committee</a></h1>

                                        <p class="Tag Full">By <a href="http://arstechnica.com/authors.ars/Nate+Anderson">Nate Anderson</a>
                                         | Published: July 19, 2007 - 07:53PM CT
                                        </p>
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                        
                                                        <p>
Congress has at last taken an interest in a seemingly arcane debate
over the metrics used by the FCC and is moving on the issue with
surprising speed. For years, geeks have criticized the way that the
agency collects broadband information, focusing especially on the fact
that the bar for "broadband" is set laughably low (200Kbps) and that if
one person in a ZIP code has access, then the entire ZIP code is
considered "served." The <a href="http://commerce.senate.gov/public/_files/BROADBANDDATAIMPR1.pdf">Broadband Data Improvement Act</a> (PDF) hopes to <a href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070525-new-senate-bill-pushes-for-second-generation-broadband.html">
remedy some of these problems</a>, and it has just unanimously cleared the Senate Commerce Committee.
</p><div class="Inset RelatedStories">
                                                                <h3><span class="Replace">Related Stories</span></h3>
                                                                <ul><li><a href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070720-senate-a-single-curse-word-is-one-too-many.html">Senate committee passes bill to outlaw "fleeting" f-bombs</a></li><li><a href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070525-new-senate-bill-pushes-for-second-generation-broadband.html">
New Senate bill defines "second generation broadband"</a></li><li><a href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070517-house-dems-broadband-isnt-broadband-unless-its-2-mbps.html">House Dems: Broadband isn't broadband unless it's 2Mbps
</a></li><li><a href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070614-fcc-network-neutrality-comments-due-tomorrow.html">FCC network neutrality comments due tomorrow</a></li></ul>
                                                                
                                                        </div>
<p>
The bill, should it pass the broader Senate and House, would force the
FCC to make a couple of major changes to the way that it puts together
its broadband information. For one thing, the agency is directed to
come up with a new metric for "second generation broadband," defined as
being the minimum speed needed to stream full-motion, high-definition
video. </p>
<p>
The FCC also needs to get far more granular with its reporting,
switching from the use of simple ZIP codes to the far more specific
ZIP+4 codes. That may still not appease everyone, but it will greatly
increase the quality of data from large, yet sparsely populated areas
that might share a zip, but not the full ZIP+4. Arguably, it is these
areas that need study the most.
</p>
<p>The idea is that, unless policymakers have good data to work with,
they are likely to end up making poor policy. Passage of the bill out
of committee has already drawn praise from Free Press, one of the
groups that has lobbied hard for the bill and has appeared at committee
hearings where it was discussed.
</p>
<p>Free Press policy director Ben Scott said, "For too long,
policymakers have been forced to operate in the dark, relying on
misleading and sometimes inaccurate information about the U.S.
broadband market. By providing detailed information about the
deployment, availability and use of broadband services in this country,
the Broadband Data Improvement Act promises to bring us one step closer
to our shared goal of universal, affordable broadband."
</p><br>-- tj<br>==========================================<br>J. T. Johnson<br>Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA<br><a href="http://www.analyticjournalism.com">www.analyticjournalism.com</a><br>505.577.6482
(c)                                 505.473.9646(h)<br><a href="http://www.jtjohnson.com">http://www.jtjohnson.com</a>                 <a href="mailto:tom@jtjohnson.us">tom@jtjohnson.us</a><br><br>"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. 
<br>To change something, build a new model that makes the <br>existing model obsolete."<br>                                                   -- Buckminster Fuller<br>==========================================