Dewayne Hendricks Explains the Forgotten National Information Infrastructure Community Broadband Bits #34
b'Have you heard of the National Information Infrastructure, or the NII? Most of us either haven\'t, or have forgotten we once knew what it could be. Dewayne Hendricks joins us to remind us what it was and why we should care. It\'s "kind of a big thing." Since we conducted this interview, unlicensed spectrum issues became a hot topic; listen below to get a better sense of just how important this issue is.\\n\\nIn our discussion, Dewayne walks us through the original vision, one that now seems fanciful: a world of mobile devices that interconnect with each other on the wireless networks that surround us. While we do have wireless networks in most places, they are often controlled by a few companies, like Verizon and AT&T, that restrict how we can use them and how our devices can talk to each other.\\n\\nBut the NII was to be more decentralized, creating much more space for entreprenuers and innovators to create new business models. A few massive corporations were able to change that vision, creating a lucrative role for themselves as gatekeepers along the way.\\n\\nDewayne started this conversation by recommending a 1995 filing by Apple [pdf]. Whether you read it before or after our conversation, it is worth taking a look. \\n\\nDewayne has previously joined us to discuss wireless generally and then later to talk about the wired vs. wireless debate. A previous interview with Bruce Kushnick is also referenced over the course of this interview.\\n\\nRead the transcript from this discussion here.\\n\\nWe want your feedback and suggestions for the show - please e-mail us or leave a comment below. Also, feel free to suggest other guests, topics, or questions you want us to address.\\n\\nThis show is 30 minutes long and can be played below on this page or subscribe via iTunes or via the tool of your choice using this feed. Search for us in iTunes and leave a positive comment!\\n\\nListen to previous episodes here. You can can download this Mp3 file directly from here.\\n\\nFind more episodes in our podcast index.\\n\\nThanks to mojo monkeys for the music, licensed using Creative Commons.'