Column: Affordable Internet for all?

The Alliance for Affordable Internet sounds like one of those high-minded but futile ideas that go nowhere, slowly.

But then again, maybe it’s not. And the stakes are so high, for both the technology industry and for Civilization with a capital "C," that it’s got to be worth a try.

More than a billion people, about 60% of the world’s population, still lack access to the Internet. Most of them live in the developing world.

There are a number of projects devoted to changing that, from Internet.org, a non-profit founded by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, to Google's wicked-cool launch of Internet signal-bouncing balloons.