
More than just access
East of the Mississippi, rural population is dense enough that we could satisfy this initiative by subsidizing rural telcos to place DSL transceivers in their central offices, and maybe lay some new lines. Then each household just needs: a DSL modem; a computer strong enough to run the programs and show the content that is newly available; a person who can keep the computer running; a person who would benefit from the new information pipeline; enough free cash to pay for the Internet service; reliable phone and power; the brains and will to hold it all together.
Poverty and ignorance make people second class citizens. Maybe there are some, or even many, people who would use such a program to lift themselves out of both. But, as a country dweller, I can assure you that most of the beneficiaries of such a program would use it for trivial purposes, or not at all.