Intellectual Property Law

BroadbandCensus Aims for Better Broadband Data

By Cynthia Brumfield

Drew Clark, the former hot-shot tech reporter for the National Journal, is off on a great new adventure. He has launched BroadbandCensus.com, a site that aims to both collect and supply data on the state of the nation's broadband service.

Drew has collected broadband data from the FCC and plugged into a database so that visitors can get a sense of local broadband competitors. He has also posted a questionnaire that allows consumers to provide further information and to rate their local providers.

BroadbandCensus is coming online at the right time. As Drew notes in his blog post announcing the new site, a lot of states are trying to collect their own data and legislation is moving in both the House and Senate to collect better broadband data.

It's going to take some time for BroadbandCensus to build a reliable data set and Drew is in for some late nights. But, he has already got the backing of the Benton Foundation and has landed a contract with Pew Internet & American Life Project. Hopefully, BroadbandCensus will fill in the gaps left by the less-than-sufficient job the FCC has done in documenting the nation's broadband resources.

Full post as published by IP Democracy on March 04, 2008 (boomark / email).