This report is the latest edition of our Digital Nation series, and it is based on data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau at the request of NTIA. Against this backdrop of data, today’s Internet-connected society raises a range of significant policy issues, including questions about spectrum use, universal service, copyright, privacy, security, and the economy itself.
The data collected from NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and the State Broadband Data and Development grants that supported data collection for the National Broadband Map, as well as the CPS data, provide insight for the President’s wireless initiative, the Federal digital literacy programs, and the FCC’s universal service reform initiative. These efforts will also help state and local policymakers throughout the country, in cooperation with private partners, to make sound, fact-based decisions that will improve America’s productivity, ingenuity, world competitiveness, and standard of living.
Consistent with this Administration’s resolve to maintain a transparent and open government, the survey data utilized in this report are publicly available for use and analysis by academic and policy researchers and others interested in the state of Internet use in America.