Media Access Project (MAP) called upon the Federal Communications Commission today to give priority to First Amendment values as it establishes its plan for nationwide broadband development. MAP asked the Commission to take an expansive view about the role of government to promote and enhance the marketplace of ideas through policies including, but not limited to, non-discrimination in network management and interconnection.

MAP’s comments to the Commission noted longstanding Supreme Court precedent emphasizing that the government can and should consider diversity and free expression in its policymaking decisions. “There is a long and unbroken line of authority for government to create a robust platform for civic participation,” said MAP President Andrew Jay Schwartzman.

For broadband service in the United States, Schwartzman argued, “the problem is one of quantity. Either there is no broadband at al, or there is not enough.”

“Yet enhanced competition in the broadband marketplace would not only lower prices and improve public access to information. It would create a vibrant platform for democratic discourse and the exchange of political, social, artistic and philosophical expression,” Schwartzman said.

“The potential of President Obama’s efforts to expand accountability through online-based tools and services will also continue to be unmet without nationwide, robust, low-cost broadband service,” said Schwartzman. “The federal government should aggressively pursue the goal of high speed connectivity for all Americans,” he said.

Read the full comments.