Research On The Us Telecommunications Regulation From The Perspective Of Digital Divide

Since the "digital divide" issue was officially put forward in the 1990 s,it has quickly become a hot topic because of issues such as social equality,fairness,democracy,public interest,social inclusion,and civil rights were related to.But for decades,no country has truly achieved a crossroads in the digital divide.The perception of the “digital divide” has gone through three dimensions,from focusing on hardware infrastructure,using skills to acquiring knowledge.The basic level is the accessibility of network devices and the use of computers and the Internet.With the deepening of the research on the “digital divide”,people realize that the “digital divide” is essentially an inequality that involves multiple dimensions of society.There are different differences on how to solve the "digital divide." This aspect is caused by the complexity of the digital divide itself and the different interests of each stakeholder.On the other hand,the telecommunications industry,which is closely related to the digital divide,is also undergoing industry changes as society changes,which has led to changes in telecommunications policies.In fact,changes in technology and the social environment have made government initiative and policy practice an important thrust to resolve the digital divide.In response to the digital divide,the United States proposed the principle of Universal Service,and subsequently based on this concept derived the principle of "network neutrality." "Universal service",as one of the important principles of the development of the US telecommunications industry and national control,has gone from the “widely access to” to the demand for “access with quality” in the new century.This kind of shift has a commonality with the "digital divide" problem from the focus on infrastructure construction to the difference in service quality and usage differences due to differences in people's socioeconomic status.The “net neutrality” principle,as an important concept and practice for the extension of “universal service”,advocates to ensure the quality of network access services and to ensure equal access to the network for all.The "net neutrality" issue was proposed from 2003 to the establishment of the rules in 2015,it took 12 years,but with the change of the ruling party,it was abolished two years later.Although the "net neutrality" rule no longer exists,the US "net neutrality" debate reflects the collision of various stakeholders' games and different political ideas.By analyzing the neutrality principle contained in "network neutrality",we can find that "neutrality" means that the state should have a clear view of good and evil in public political life,and the development of market and technology should have an ethical bottom line."Network neutrality" is a public political life that hopes to achieve freedom of good and evil through state control."Restoring Internet freedom" is to believe that in the free market competition,a fair survival of the fittest can be achieved.In fact,"regulation" has freedom.Free competition does not necessarily lead to the survival of the fittest.Advocating "recovering Internet freedom" is to protect the market monopoly.However,both the “universal service” principle and the “network neutrality” principle contain an idea of equality and state intervention.This kind of thinking has certain contradictions with the American-led liberal political ideas,and this contradiction has existed since the constitution of the American father.The market economy brings prosperity,but it also brings many social problems.When the country needs to take on more and more responsibility to solve the problem,the extent of state intervention always been challenged."Positive freedom" and "Negative freedom" both have different answers.This understanding of the internal concept of "freedom" is different,reflected in policy instability and the lag of solving problems.Therefore,the failure of "network neutrality" in US policy is not an accident,but a necessity under the Western liberal system.Its essence is in the Western countries where individualism and liberalism are the core,the debate on how much power should be used in the society,reflects the conflict between the two concepts "freedom first" and "state regulation".Behind the "digital divide" and "network neutrality" issues are the same logic to solve the root causes of inequality.The dilemma of the "network neutrality" problem also reflects to some extent the same dilemma in solving the digital divide.By analyzing the focus and core of "network neutrality" in the process of establishing and abolishing in US legal regulations,it is helpful for us to understand and predict the future direction of the world's telecommunication regulatory policies and the future of solving digital divide in the US-led world structure.