The Wild West

Back in the 1800s a large portion of our country was virtually unexplored. Intrepid individuals headed west looking for a better life and elbow room. Boom towns grew up along the frontier. Some of these were places of peace and commerce while others were lawless places full of outlaws and danger. Travelers frequently didn’t know if they would be able to pass through safely under the watchful eye of a Town Sheriff or whether they would pay the price for their hubris with the loss of their belongings or even their lives. It was a wild time and a dangerous time.

Now you may be wondering what all this has to do with a site dedicated to broadband in Vermont. The answer is that the internet of today is much like the wild west in days of old. Anyone can put anything on the internet. In order to set up a website a person needs only to have some space, a piece of software and a desire to share their ideas with… well…. Everyone. This person is his or her own sheriff and an internet surfer like you has no way of knowing if a particular site is acceptable or offensive.

The point is that there is no vast central body that regulates the internet. The internet is just like that frontier of old where travelers take their chances approaching a new town (website). This, by the way, is supported by government. Right now, the internet is specifically NOT regulated. It has been exempt from regulation to allow it to grow and develop without any artificial barriers getting in the way.

Likewise, the broadband network that has become important (nearly necessary) in order to navigate the internet is also not regulated. There is no governmental agency that sets rules for how fast a broadband offering need be nor what technology is to be used. No one can tell the providers where they have to build their networks or how much they may charge. Even cable and television companies which are regulated in other aspects of their communication businesses are not regulated in the broadband part of their business.

From the Federal government to local government, almost all aspects of the internet (and how you get to it) are hands off for rules and regulations. As such, many companies that offer broadband are placing their resources in areas where they believe that they can get the best return on their investment.

Through a combination of federal and state issued grants and loans, many companies are pushing the network out into areas that are less profitable. In other cases, companies have been formed with the idea of neighbors serving neighbors with broadband service. The result is the growing breadth (or footprint) of broadband service that evolves without laws to direct the expansion.

Eventually though, there will be rules. Just as law came to the border towns in the Old West, so will law come to the internet and its “on ramps”. When that happens, someone surfing the internet will be able to do so secure in the idea that anywhere they go has a degree of safety. Surfers then will look back on this period of history just as we look back on the days of Wyatt Earp and Jesse James. Someday WE will be able to say that 'we were there' in the days of the lawless frontier of the internet.