With this sort of thing I think you have to look at the delta to give an honest reading of what google is doing. What can you think of in which the better-off aren't favored in this country? Nothing.

The question is: Is google creating more access than comcast, time warner, etc? I'm sure the answer is yes.

The answer to broadband really should be the government. We don't have private roads because if we did poor people wouldn't have roads. (Hey, this is America, maybe we will take roads away from poor people soon enough.) In terms of who lays the cables, that could be provided by private entities, but the infrastructure for this should be designed and managed by the government to ensure fair distribution, and anything else will always lead to inequality. Capitalism and inequality are different ways of saying the same thing. It doesn't matter how well-meaning a corporation is, they can't exist without making a profit. You make a profit off people that have money, not off people that don't. You can't sell anything to people that can't afford anything. None of this should be surprising.

Eventually internet service probably will be something every government provides as a basic service. The US will probably be far, far behind, like it is on everything else that doesn't involve dropping bombs.