This part of the report will be widely cited, mainly because it's from Harvard and has a nice ordered list of countries. But the ordering is a sham because the survey data is worthless. A detailed analysis of the survey's flaws would take an entire article. But some examples. How can Canada, with the world's fastest backbone network (by far), 80 percent internet usage (including near 100 percent by people under 18), and access costs less than half that of the United States rank lower in network access? Because the data are fudged: backbone and access speed are not measured at all, the access figures are misreported, and the cost of access is taken as a function of the rate for 20 hours online in terms of GDP per capita - a pretty useless measure for a nation that widely supports always-on broadband access. Instead of measuring the cost and availability of broadband access, the report disguises America's failure to deploy by surveying instead "perceptions" of broadband availability and access. A host of "business and economic climate" datum is also included - again measured by survey - in which the primary measurement seems to be the degree of deviance with U.S. law and policy. The deep thinkers at Harvard should be ashamed to be foisting this piece of flim-flammery on the public.
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