[GA - FAILED QUORUM] The Broadband in Education Act

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The Broadband in Education Act
Category: Advancement of Industry | Area of Effect: Commercial Enterprise
Proposed by: Lile Uile Islands, Co-authored by: Anne of Cleves in TNP, Tinhampton | Onsite Topic​

The World Assembly,

Assured that as the world modernizes, we cannot leave anyone behind,

Cognizant of the fact that the internet can be a vital, everyday tool for some, while others have never engaged in such a thing,

Aware of the fact that satellite internet is a form of connection, but broadband can reach places with less infrastructure, which is usually where most are left behind without secure broadband connection,

Noting the fact that satellite internet is better in ground-based areas, but broadband tends to be better in places that lack any form of connection whatsoever,

Observing that many students are unable to complete digital assignments as they lack the connection needed to do so,

Cognizant of the fact that broadband is a wide modern bandwidth that can be easily secured and protected,

Determined to ensure that all students are supplied with equal opportunities to succeed and participate firsthand in their education,

Urging that governments must provide secure broadband to every student’s household, library, and school, no matter its location on the map,

Defines the following terms necessary for this proposal:

“broadband” as the modern and wide bandwidth that can handle many signals and frequencies at once, a tool used for better communication and connection,

“secure broadband” as the definition stated above, but with a more protected connection,

“the Homework Gap” as the students who cannot complete their homework and educational assignments because they lack connection,

“infrastructure,” as the structures and facilities used for the operation of everyday life,

Hereby,

1. Commissions that schools, libraries, and student households are provided with secure broadband connections so that students, the future of our world, shall be able to succeed,

The Homework Gap, as previously defined, shall be bridged so that students have equal opportunities to succeed,

2. Maps shall be created to find where areas aren’t served with secure broadband, so that those gaps can be filled,

The maps shall not show student addresses, however, they will be shaded maps showing areas that lack secure broadband access,

3. Governments of member states shall invest more in building new and better infrastructure as one of the main reasons many don’t have secure broadband connection is because the lack of infrastructure,

The General Assembly hereby declares that all member states are to comply with the above.
Click to expand...
Note: Only votes from TNP WA nations and NPA personnel will be counted. If you do not meet these requirements, please add (non-WA) or something of that effect to your vote.
Voting Instructions:
  • Vote For if you want the Delegate to vote For the resolution.
  • Vote Against if you want the Delegate to vote Against the resolution.
  • Vote Abstain if you want the Delegate to abstain from voting on this resolution.
  • Vote Present if you are personally abstaining from this vote.
Detailed opinions with your vote are appreciated and encouraged!

ForAgainstAbstainPresent
71200
 
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Against but I am open to persuasion on this, because the resolution at least does not specify "provide for free". A few points (please note as I state on my signature, I always reply as if IRL, not IC):

"Noting the fact that satellite internet is better in ground-based areas, but broadband tends to be better in places that lack any form of connection whatsoever" <- (1) the rest of the resolution doesn't actually define satellite Internet so this seems a redundant statement, and I assume you mean "fixed line (wireline) broadband when you define "broadband" (2) this statement may not even survive 5G much less 6G (or whatever Elon Musk is doing) - as an aside I'd ignore the point that a wireline broadband is required to participate in The North Pacific as a citizen (3) the WA has, as far as I am aware (and I did a search on the Forums), never provided electricity + computers + mobile phones, so why broadband in particular? And if a nation can't afford electricity or mobile phones or shiny LED screens, isn't broadband somewhere down the priority list?

And did anyone mention that the National Broadband Network in Australia ended up costing more than A$50bn by 2018 (and more with the new upgrades) and is already partly obsolete due to 5G and will be totally obsolete soon due to 5G/6G?
 
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For

I have a bias in favor of this proposal, given that I am one of the co-authors :angel:. But to actually back this up, I had three complaints on previous drafts of this. On the original draft, I felt that the final sentence was problematic and that the overall scope was too broad. And on another draft, I suggested that the author shouldn’t use the word ‘cognizant’ so many times in the preamble. Considering that all of these issues have been dealt with by the author, I am able to support.
 
I have a lot of questions; principal of these is the extremely questionable definition of "broadband", despite it being something that is key to the whole resolution. The main provided definition doesn't make sense, and could refer to a myriad of things - for example, the human vocal range fits this definition very well. I feel like this alone should be grounds to invalidate this resolution. The definition of "secure broadband" that is given immediately afterwards is similarly ridiculous, with "protected" remaining ambiguous, and both of the most common meanings of it are nonsense when applied to the whole clause.

I think the fact that "noting" is used in the fourth paragraph to precede something that makes absolutely no sense is quite indicative of the issues with the resolution. Seeing that "infrastructure" gets a definition for some reason, I'd see it fit that "ground-based" should as well. The paragraph preceding it also has serious issues - especially noting that satellite connections are universally considered a form of broadband - such as that some forms of broadband (again, we don't know what this is meant to mean since the definition does not help) require much more infrastructure and investment to install compared to satellite.

I have a few issues with some aspects of the writing style and tone as well, but I don't think this is sufficient to discredit it. I'm reasonably happy with the rest of the resolution; I just feel that these issues are a bit of a disappointment to the thing overall.

To be clear, since my position has been mistaken already: I want to remove the unnecessary attempts at technical detail, not make it more complex; it is obvious that excessive technical detail is not required, and so bad attempts at adding it are just a stain on the resolution. There are shorter and simpler ways of doing everything that I've complained about, whilst also being more technically correct: the more you try to write, the more you're probably going to get wrong. I think this should at least be given some more time to be distilled further before passing.
 
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This shouldn’t be pinned.

This is absolutely unnecessary and, like most of the recent crop of authors, was rushed to vote. Against.
 
2. Maps shall be created to find where areas aren’t served with secure broadband, so that those gaps can be filled,

The maps shall not show student addresses, however, they will be shaded maps showing areas that lack secure broadband access,
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My eyes just rolled. On their own. It was the weirdest thing.

Against.
 
This proposal has failed to obtain the requisite number of approvals and will not be proceeding to vote. Thread locked.
 
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