• Originally published in the Houston Business Journal on June 21, 2002 [here]

Twisted logic fails to eliminate sad fact that digital divide exists

By Al Massey

To see the proof in the old saying, "figures don't lie, but liars figure," it's not necessary to look any further than the Bush administration's spin on the first computer/Internet supplement to the Current Population Survey published by the Department of Commerce.

 In a twisted bit of logic worthy of the Mad Hatter, the Bush administration used figures gleaned from the Current Population Survey, to conclude that the so-called "digital divide" no longer exists and promptly set about eliminating two key programs, intended to bridge the digital divide, from the 2003 budget.

 Throughout the 1990s, consumer and civil rights groups shared a strong concern with policymakers and opinion leaders over the concept of the digital divide. Their concern is rooted in the knowledge that there is a compelling need for programs designed to bridge the gap between those who have access to computers and the Internet and those who do not.

 Americans cut off from the benefits of digital technology will be severely disadvantaged in the new economy. The administration's elimination of the Department of Commerce's Technology Opportunities Program and the Department of Education's Community Technology Center program threatens to compound socio-economic and educational gaps by leaving low-income Americans ill prepared for the 21st century workplace.

 In misinterpreting the digital divide out of existence, the president selected Michael Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, as his point man. Powell promptly called a press conference where he belittled the "so-called" digital divide, by referring to it as a "Mercedes Benz divide," while reminding the press that rich people always get new technologies first.

 Contrary to Powell's way of thinking, digital technology is not a luxury to be equated to a Mercedes Benz. Rather, it is quite simply, the key that will unlock the door of knowledge. Failing to provide U.S. citizens, as well as those of developing nations, access to digital technology, in effect, denies them the opportunity to participate in what is rapidly becoming the economic engine of the 21st century.

 "Access to the Internet today is as important as access to the street or sewers or electricity was 50 years ago," says Mark Lloyd, executive director, of the Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy.

 The emergence of the Internet as a popular communications network over the past decade has certainly had some remarkable implications for commerce, education, and even personal relationships.

 The contention that the digital divide has been closed is based primarily on government statistics showing that computer ownership and Internet access have reached 50 percent penetration in the United States.

 However, Mark Cooper, director of research for the Consumer Federation of America, a consumer education group based in Washington, D.C., points out that as the Internet becomes more ubiquitous, those without access are more likely to be damaged by the lack of access.

 "Society is structuring its activity around the Internet, which means people who are left out are a bigger concern, not a lesser one," Cooper says.

 Recent figures have shown the technology gap subsiding as more Americans go online. As of September 2001, 66 percent of the population used the Internet, with access growing fastest among households earning less than $15,000 per year, according to figures prepared by the Department of Commerce. The same report found racial and ethnic gaps narrowing as well.

 But households earning more than $50,000 are still three times as likely to have Internet access at home than households earning less than $25,000. More affluent households are also more likely to have signed up for high-speed access.

 Given the importance of the Internet across a wide range of activities and the speed with which things develop in cyberspace, there are indications of another digital divide on the high-speed Internet.

 Under Powell's guidance, the FCC has been quietly handing over control of the broadband Internet to a small group of favored corporations. This comes at a time when the FCC has ruled that cable companies do not have to open their networks to competing Internet service providers.

 Now the FCC is entertaining a proposal that would give the same protection to digital subscriber line service providers. This action would allow the "Baby Bells," to deny other DSL providers access to local phone networks and rip the heart out of the "competition" provision of the 1996 Telecommunications Act by allowing the Bells to use their control over broadband pipes to restrict access to content, information or technologies that compete with their own content or otherwise threaten their interests.

 Since the inception of the commercial Internet the goal of all -- the White House, the Congress and the FCC -- was to have it become a universal mass medium, distributed by competitive companies at competitive prices. This is the primary reason it has become the fastest-growing form of communication in history.

 With the emphasis on broadband, service providers are pulling out of narrowband, dial-up services and leaving those users stranded. There is absolutely no government policy in place that will allow narrowband to continue as a mass medium. The problem is broadband is being deployed at a price that means no more than a quarter of the country will be able to afford it, effectively guaranteeing a widening of the digital divide.

 Chairman Powell's joking about the Mercedes Benz divide, at a time when the Bush administration cuts funding for the Technology Opportunities Program and the Department of Education's Community Technology Center program is locking tens of millions of Americans out of the digital information age.