New York Times Addresses Digital Divide

In an opinion piece in the Sunday New York Times, law professor Susan P. Crawford – former technology advisor to President Obama – attacked the growing U.S. digital divide. Access – or lack of access – to high-speed Internet split the country into those able to participate in society’s benefits, and those left out. She wrote:

“Increasingly, we are a country in which only the urban and suburban well-off have truly high-speed Internet access, while the rest – the poor and the working class – either cannot afford access or use restricted wireless access as their only connection to the Internet. As our jobs, entertainment, politics and even health care move online, millions are at risk of being left behind.”

One of the remedies people cite for this divide is the growing use of smartphones among low-income people. After all, with a smartphone, one can access the Internet. But:

“The problem is that smartphone access is not a substitute for wired. The vast majority of jobs require online applications, but it is hard to type up a résumé on a hand-held device; it is hard to get a college degree from a remote location using wireless. Few people would start a business using only a wireless connection.”

Crawford notes that a digital divide of this size is unusual in the developed countries.

“The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ranks America 12th among developed nations for wired Internet access, and it is safe to assume that high prices have played a role in lowering our standing. So America, the country that invented the Internet and still leads the world in telecommunications innovation, is lagging far behind in actual use of that technology.”

As Speed Matters has repeatedly emphasized, the answer lies in a build-out of high-speed wired and wireless networks. These technologies are complements, not substitutes, as Nathan Newman makes clear in his recent Economic Policy Institute report: The Benefits of Robust Wired and Wireless Networks.

As if to underscore Crawford's concern, the recent announcement of Verizon's deal with the cable companies illustrates how the leading wireless carrier (Verizon) and the top cable companies (Comcast and Time Warner) plan to eliminate competitive entry by the other into their respective markets.

The New Digital Divide (The New York Times, Dec. 4, 2011)

The benefits of robust wired and wireless networks (Nathan Newman, EPI, Nov. 30, 2011)

Verizon cable deal clamps the lid on broadband competition (Speed Matters, Dec. 6, 2011)