The Internet as a Public Sphere

Today's blog is about the Internet as a Public Sphere because this is something that I could use possibly in my upcoming final paper for this class. 

The first question to answer is what is the public sphere?

The public sphere has it roots from Jurgen Habermas and his conception that the public sphere centers on the principle of universal access and it is a network for influencing political action through the communication of information and points of view.

What caught my eye when I read the article that provided me with this information were the key words of "universal access".  Many today consider the "Internet" the new public sphere.  I'm not sure that I agree with this idea. 

Yes, many people have access to the Internet and it is growing by leaps and bounds.  However, where is the  universal access??

The Obama administration would like everyone to be able to have access to the Internet however we are not there yet.  In order to be able to provide this service  around the country huge investments would need to be undertaken.  There are many rural areas that have not been built out in order to provide this service.  That is a costly endeavor.  Even if there are incentives provided to build out the broadband network I'm not sure if the providers will want to build these networks out.  What kind of return on their investment will they receive for providing this "universal service"  in a rural area with few people.  The return on investment comes from building out areas where there are large amounts of the population.

Another issue is in the realm of net neutrality.   How will and does this affect universal service???

One side of the debate centers on providing equal service to everyone who wants to access the Internet. The other side of the debate centers on being able to limit access based on usage or demand.  This then would affect universal access.

I have only read a few articles so far regarding the Internet as a Public Sphere centered on the premise of universal access.  However, I find this rather interesting and plan on doing some additional research on this topic.

Do you think of the Internet as the next Public Sphere?