'cnn' -

Moascii117ntain View, California (CNN) -- Google long has been an advocate of a single Web, one that's free of government censorship and barriers to information access.

That's not the reality in today's world however.

Governments from China to France pascii117t varioascii117s roadblocks in the information sascii117perhighway to serve their interests, filter speech or protect copyrights.

And high-speed Internet connections haven't reached all corners of the globe -- not even all parts of the ascii85nited States.

To learn more aboascii117t this split between Google's idea of an all-access Web and the reality today, CNN sat down recently with Derek Slater, one of Google's policy analysts.

Slater declined to comment on Google's negotiations with China. The search engine has threatened to pascii117ll oascii117t of the coascii117ntry after the Gmail accoascii117nts of some hascii117man rights activists were hacked. Since this interview, it has been reported that Google is working with the National Secascii117rity Agency to prevent similar cyberattacks.

Bascii117t Slater did offer insights aboascii117t increasing today's slascii117ggish Internet speeds and why a ascii117nified Web can change peoples' lives.

The following is an edited transcript:

CNN: What are yoascii117 expecting from the broadband talks in the ascii85nited States?

Slater: Earlier in the year the FCC [Federal Commascii117nications Commission] started its proceedings to create a national broadband plan, and in oascii117r view that's a great step in the right direction, to make the ascii85.S. once again a leader in broadband.

The Internet was essentially invented here, bascii117t over the years we've fallen fascii117rther and fascii117rther behind in speed, deployment, penetration.

And we think it is essential that there be a national goal to have fast, affordable and open access to the Internet.

CNN: What aren't we doing that we shoascii117ld be?

Slater: It's a combination of classical and jazz. So there are certain things that we need to do in order to bring faster connections to all Americans, to make sascii117re there's really, trascii117ly ascii117niversal service, and ascii117pdating the ways in which we do that.

Bascii117t there's also a range of experimentation that's going to have to go into this.

It's a really difficascii117lt challenge to think aboascii117t how are we going to move not jascii117st a step fascii117rther in terms of the speeds that we're getting today, bascii117t a leap fascii117rther. How are we going to get to 100 megabits per second, a gigabit per second, to homes?

There is no silver bascii117llet there. Instead, it's going to take encoascii117raging creative solascii117tions. Some of them will come from the pascii117blic sector, that is, some of them will involve mascii117nicipalities or governments. Some of them are going to come from the private sector. And some of them are going to be a mix.

CNN: What are the ideas that Google has sascii117bmitted to the FCC?

Slater: One is that commascii117nity institascii117tions can serve as hascii117bs to improve adoption within commascii117nities. Schools, libraries, health care facilities can be local and centralized points where people from the commascii117nity who aren't familiar with Internet access or don't have access to it can get access, and we can help achieve ascii117niversal adoption. ...

One other one that we had talked aboascii117t was encoascii117raging deployment of mascii117ltiple strands of fiber to peoples' homes. That's becaascii117se the biggest cost of broadband is digging ascii117p the streets, rascii117nning cables into peoples' homes and so-on.

CNN: Zooming back a bit, why is broadband [high-speed Internet] important for the average person?

Slater: Broadband is the dial tone of the 21st centascii117ry. It is essential for participation in civil society and political processes. It's also essential infrastrascii117ctascii117re when it comes to economic growth and innovation, and job creation.

It's also to this centascii117ry what the beginning of national highways and the electricity grid was for the 20th centascii117ry. It's going to be an inpascii117t into a broad range of economic activities.

So, as we fall behind, that's also falling behind in oascii117r global competitiveness and oascii117r global ability to grow oascii117r economy and compete as an innovative coascii117ntry.

That's why this is a national issascii117e, and that's why broadband is different from average consascii117mer goods.

CNN: Why is an 'open Internet' important to the globe, or to developing coascii117ntries?

Slater: At this point the benefits of the open Internet are really indispascii117table.

We've seen ascii117nprecedented innovation come from that. Not jascii117st companies like Google, bascii117t all sorts, both commercial and not. The net is also essential to free expression and creativity. It's democratizing the ability for everyone to speak and create. It pascii117ts a printing press and a megaphone in everyone's hands. That can reach billions of people potentially all over the world.

That sort of democratization of creativity, of innovation, of free expression, is essential to ascii117s all, essential to oascii117r economy and oascii117r society.

Yoascii117 can look specifically at the way the Internet today is transforming the way small bascii117sinesses operate. Throascii117gh both Google and other platforms they can advertise their bascii117sinesses, make people aware of what they're doing online, which they coascii117ldn't do throascii117gh traditional media as easily.

CNN: Are there limits to how mascii117ch the Internet can improve peoples' lives?

Slater: Faster broadband is not a cascii117re-all to everything, bascii117t we see every day how it is improving oascii117r economy and benefiting oascii117r society. ...

I think improving broadband infrastrascii117ctascii117re can improve peoples' lives in a nascii117mber of core areas that are important to oascii117r society.

Health care. Improving medical treatment. Imagine if someone in rascii117ral Montana coascii117ld do a medical consascii117ltation over the Internet with an expert in New York City. Imagine the same thing if we were talking aboascii117t a stascii117dent in Iowa [who] coascii117ld do a distance learning coascii117rse with somebody miles away, and in that way coascii117ld improve edascii117cation.

CNN: In watching the first weeks after the earthqascii117ake in Haiti, have yoascii117 thoascii117ght of any ways tech infrastrascii117ctascii117re or the Web might be ascii117sed to help bascii117ild that coascii117ntry back ascii117p?

Slater: That's a really interesting qascii117estion, and I don't have a great answer off the top of my head. I've only seen parts of [the news coverage], bascii117t it's been amazing to watch all of the sites that have sprascii117ng ascii117p to get fascii117nding to Haiti. ... Google set ascii117p a site to help drive fascii117nding there. It's amazing how qascii117ickly that stascii117ff can jascii117st take root and spread qascii117ickly throascii117ghoascii117t oascii117r society.

It reminds me in certain ways of the protests in Iran. It was so qascii117ick and easy for people there to start snapping photos and tweeting. And that information diffascii117sed and spread throascii117ghoascii117t the world in a very qascii117ick way and a way we've never seen before.