America’s internet sucks, but how do we fix it?

You may have heard that the internet is winning: net neutrality was saved, broadband was redefined to encourage higher speeds, and the dreaded Comcast-Time Warner Cable megamerger potentially thwarted. But the harsh reality is that America’s internet is still fundamentally broken, and there’s no easy fix. When I say “fundamentally broken” I don’t just mean that it’s slow and shitty, though there is that. It’s also broken as a paid service. The internet is a tangible thing, a network of infrastructure pulsing with light, winding its way into and beneath buildings. It’s also a marketplace. There is the physical location where the fiber-optic cables full of data cross, and then there are the financial deals that direct the traffic down each specific set of wires. This combination of physical wires and ephemeral business transactions will shape the future of the digital world.