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December 2016

Digital Denied: The Impact of Systemic Racial Discrimination on Home-Internet Adoption

In this report, we demonstrate that communities of color find themselves on the wrong side of the digital divide for home-Internet access – both in terms of adoption and deployment – in a manner that income differences alone don’t explain. Once we control for other economic and demographic factors that contribute to this divide, the data illustrate persistent broadband adoption and deployment gaps for people of different races and ethnicities. We find that several personal and household characteristics are associated with home-Internet adoption, including race and ethnicity, along with family income, educational attainment, and use of the Internet at work or school. There are however large differences in some of these factors depending on a person’s race or ethnicity.

We conclude that public policies aimed at closing the digital divide must focus on correcting failures endemic to the home-Internet market, such as supra-competitive pricing, provider cross-subsidization, and the lack of a functioning resale/wholesale market. Confronting these market failures would increase the ability of people in marginalized communities to access advanced telecommunications services and purchase those services in an equitable manner.

Effort Underway to Improve Digital Inclusion and Literacy for Tribal and Rural Residents

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the PAST Foundation’s National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA-PAST), announced a pilot project that aims to increase digital inclusion in the United States through local digital literacy trainers, called the Digital Inclusion Corps. The pilot project will work with three state library agencies and two museum organizations to deploy Corps members in five tribal and rural communities. The five Corps members will work with local communities to discover their community digital inclusion-related needs. They will then create a digital equity plan to address such issues as affordable home Internet access, public access, low-cost devices and digital literacy training and technology support.

With support from a the project manager, the Corps members will implement the plans, share their experiences online and gather and annotate a collection of digital literacy materials for a publicly available repository at the US Impact Research Group at the University of Washington. Evaluation data will be collected throughout the project period. The pilot is part of a broader effort between IMLS and NDIA-PAST to create more equitable access to online information as well literacy support and training for all residents and communities, particularly those most disadvantaged.

Sprint pilot project will offer free mobile devices to students

Kansas City students will be among the first to participate in the Sprint Foundation's 1Million Project, helping close the "homework gap" for low-income students. Sprint Corp announced the first 11 cities to participate in its pilot program Dec 12, as part of a five-year goal to provide free devices and Internet connectivity to 1,000,000 US high school students.

The pilot will launch in January, providing free devices and high-speed wireless to about 4,000 students across 11 locations, including 500 students in Kansas City Public Schools. After the pilot program ends, schools will be able to apply for the program for its nationwide rollout in the 2017-2018 school year. Participating students will receive a free smartphone, tablet or hotspot device with three gigabytes of high-speed LTE data per month and unlimited texting. Students will be able to keep the devices for up to four years, until they graduate.

Legislators Pursue Broadband for Veterans and Children

The House of Representatives has adopted legislation and a resolution targeting broadband for veterans and school-age children.

Broadband for Veterans: The bill is the Improving Broadband Access for Veterans Act of 2016 (HR 6394). Introduced by Rep Jerry McNerney (D-CA), the bill would require the Federal Communications Commission to submit a report to Congress about promoting broadband Internet access service for veterans, with a special focus on low-income veterans and veterans residing in rural areas.

Student Broadband Resolution: The resolution, H. Res. 939, was introduced by Rep Peter Welch (D-VT). It argues that all students should have access to digital tools, including broadband, which are necessary to further their education and compete in today’s economy. Leading up to that assertion are 13 “whereas” clauses, such as:
Whereas the United States should lead the world in providing high-quality education and opportunities to its citizens;
Whereas digital skills are essential for education and preparing citizens for the economy of the future;
Whereas a disproportionate number of students without high-speed Internet access at home reside in low-income and minority households.

Requiem for an Agency

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission had a great run. Under six Chairmen, Democrat and Republican, the FCC played an important role in one of the greatest economic and cultural transformations in history: the global rise of the converged digital communications environment that now pervades our lives. The agency wasn’t the source of the entrepreneurial ideas, technical innovations, and massive investments, of course. All that took place predominantly in the private sector. Yet without the FCC, the Internet ecosystem today would be different, and in most ways worse: less vibrant, less advanced, less competitive, less open, and less reflective of American leadership and values. Along the way, this tiny agency—a tenth the size of the Environmental Protection Agency—became a highly visible and important player in critical public policy debates.

And now, I fear, the FCC’s moment in the sun is coming to an end. The Trump FCC may become at best insignificant, and at worst, a tool for mischief and dirty tricks that will weaken the foundations of our democracy.

[Kevin Werbach is a Professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania]

Researchers Are Preparing for Trump to Delete Government Science From the Web

When Donald Trump takes over the federal government on January 21, his administration will also gain complete control over much of the .gov suite of websites, which currently hosts a treasure trove of publicly available, taxpayer-funded scientific research. The academic world is bracing itself: Will that data remain available after his transition?

Scientists and university professors all around the country and in Canada believe we’re about to see widespread whitewashing and redaction of already published, publicly available taxpayer-funded scientific research, databases, and interactive tools, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Sea Level Rise viewer, NASA’s suite of climate change apps, and the Environmental Protection Agency’s maps of the country’s worst polluters. They also expect to see censorship, misrepresentation, and minimization of new government-funded research, specifically regarding climate change.

Following Intercept Report, 22 Organizations Urge Tech Firms to Reject Muslim Registry

Out of nine US technology firms contacted by The Intercept earlier in Nov, only one — Twitter — would rule out participating in the creation of a national Muslim registry, something President-elect Donald Trump has floated as a possibility.

On Dec 12, 22 advocacy groups sent a letter to the other eight companies, urging them to take a stand. The letter is signed jointly by a coalition including major progressive and human rights organizations: CREDO, Muslim Advocates, Color of Change, Courage Campaign, Democracy for America, #AllOfUs, Amnesty International USA, Asian Law Caucus, Bend the Arc Jewish Action, Center for Constitutional Rights, Center for Media Justice, Daily Kos, Demand Progress, Desis Rising Up and Moving, Faithful America, Fight for the Future, Free Press, Mijente, MPower Change, Presente, Sum of Us, Ultraviolet. Below is the version of the letter sent to Google. Copies are also being sent to Microsoft, IBM, Facebook, Booz Allen Hamilton, SRA International, CGI, and Apple.

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