Back in 2006, we interviewed Drew Clark of the Center For Public Integrity, an organization that's trying to map the real state of media ownership and broadband deployment via their Media Tracker database, much to the chagrin of incumbent providers.

Clark's push has seen significant and sustained opposition from the FCC, who won't release the full scope of the data they possess because they claim it would cause "competitive harm" to providers. Apparently we're to believe incumbents aren't already aware where competitors offer service before investing billions in a product like FiOS.

The FCC of course insists that all is well when it comes to broadband penetration. "Our analysis indicates that more than 99% of the country's population lives in the more than 99% of Zip Codes where a provider reports having at least one high-speed service subscriber," recently claimed the FCC. The agency has long determined that just one broadband customer in a zip code means that zip code is wired for service.

Rosy FCC statistics (and bubbly NTIA reports) hide the fact the government has very little idea how wired America is for broadband. Providers have lobbied hard to prevent accurate broadband mapping, as the illuminated deployment and competitive shortcomings could result in progressive (and costly) consumer-focused regulatory policies.

Policies that might result in increased competition.

Clark blogs that last week he finally launched BroadbandCensus.com, a website built under a Creative Commons License aimed at making broadband availability information easily accessible to everyone. Limited at this juncture, Clark is looking for feedback from users to make his penetration mapping system more accurate.