Greta Byrum
Marjorie & Charles Benton Opportunity Fund Fellow
As more and more essential services and activities move online, people have less and less of a choice about whether or not to participate in the digital world. Yet expanded internet use can bring with it increased risk.
Currently, unprecedented levels of investment in digital equity and broadband deployment via the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) hold the promise of “internet for all,” but a core tenet must be ensuring that new and vulnerable users are safe. While internet connectivity expands opportunity and opens doors to civic and social forums, it also compels users to agree to processes and terms they often don’t understand, while at the same time dodging scams and shielding personal information from theft and misuse.
In this report, we offer recommendations to state and territory broadband offices regarding what they can do to mitigate the potential harms of an increasingly digital life, especially as they roll out programs funded by the IIJA’s Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program.
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Greta Byrum is a 2023-2024 Marjorie & Charles Benton Opportunity Fund Fellow.
As a leader in digital equity and community wireless networking, Greta has worked in digital equity and internet policy since 2011. For seven years, she led tech policy and community engagement projects at New America as director of the resilient communities program and director of field operations for the Open Technology Institute. She built Resilient Networks at New America, a $4 million post- Hurricane Sandy partnership with the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, philanthropic organizations, and community-based organizations.
Building Safety Into Digital Inclusion Efforts
Digital safety is a growing concern among experts and lawmakers, and among those surveyed for state digital equity planning efforts. Digital risk impacts everyone who interacts directly with internet-enabled devices as well as those exploited, marginalized, or surveilled by algorithmic and data-dependent systems.
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Digital Safety & Investment in Internet Adoption and Use
US states are currently poised to unlock tens of billions in broadband funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) – a historic investment intended to ensure that all US residents have access to the benefits of the internet. Every state is currently creating a plan explaining how it will spend funds to build broadband networks, connect residents to low-cost internet subscriptions, and ensure that residents have the devices, skills and resources needed to leverage the benefits of the digital world.
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Creating a Culture of Consent for Our Digital Future: A Conversation with Tawana Petty
With support from the Benton Institute’s Opportunity Fund Fellowship, Greta Byrum (Benton Institute Fellow) and Ever Bussey (Just Tech Program Officer) interviewed community organizers, hacktivists, and cyber security experts to learn about the threats that face new digital adopters and how their work effectively mitigates these harms.
Read more here.