CNN conducted an interview with Derek Slater, one of Google's policy analysts. Mr. Slater gave his thoughts on a unified web and how it can change people's lives. Google has long been a supporter of a single web, one that is free of government censorship and barriers to information access.
Mr. Slater spoke of the importance of having faster broadband. "Broadband is essential for participation in civil society and political processes. It's also essential for infrastructure when it comes to economic growth, innovation, and job creation. It's also to this century what the beginning of national highways and the electricity grid was for the 20th century. It's going to be an input into a broad range of economic activities. So, as we fall behind, that's also falling behind in our global competitiveness and our global ability to grow our economy and compete as an innovative country. That's why this is a national issue,” Mr. Slated stated.
He further explained the inevitability of the open Internet that it can set "unprecedented innovation". Mr. Slated said, "The net is also essential to free expression and creativity." He went on to say, "It puts a printing press and a megaphone in everyone's hands" that can potentially reach the entire populations around the world.
He ended the interview with the statement: "Faster broadband is not a cure-all to everything, but we see every day how it is improving our economy and benefiting our society .... I think improving broadband infrastructure can improve people's lives in a number of core areas that are important to our society."
