DEI commentary interview

• produced by Joshua Breitbart
• in 2008

At the City Council hearing on the white spaces resolution, Committee Chair Gale Brewer asked about the cost of white space devices. Dana Spiegel from NYCwireless explained that, like most new technology, the cost would start high then go down over time. PPH Policy Director Joshua Breitbart pointed out that the true cost would actually be a savings compared to what we spend now for Internet access and mobile phone calls. In this audio clip, he explains how delivering Internet connectivity to people's mobile phones is the most effective way to close the digital divide between those with high speed Internet access at home and those without.

Abdulai Bah of the Community News Production Institute takes pre-paid calling cards to task and suggests that white space devices could save immigrants a load of cash.

Google, in coalition with public interest groups, is trying to draw support for the opening of the unused television airwaves with it's Free the Airwaves project. The unused airwaves, known as "white spaces," are open spaces between digital TV channels. If the FCC allows for open access to the airwaves, there is potential for the development of new technology that will make it possible to provide wireless broadband Internet access over the signal, potentially making it possible to allow for universal access to the Internet.

• produced by Gale Brewer
• in

New York City Council Member Gale Brewer discusses the City’s new Broadband Advisory Committee on Wake Up Call.