Never has the necessity of the internet been so clear, nor has the cost to those who go without.
Erasing America’s digital divide |
 | | Jake Terrell |
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With many millions of Americans working or attending virtual school from home during the coronavirus pandemic, the longstanding gap between those who have reliable, affordable internet and those who don’t has never been so clear. |
Susan Crawford, a Harvard Law School professor, has said for years that America’s internet system is broken. She advocates government intervention to help finance and oversee online pipelines, as happened previously for essential services like telephone lines and electricity. |
Susan’s critics say she’s proposing an unviable government overreach. But it’s clear the status quo isn’t working, so I talked to Susan about her proposed solutions. |
How big is the problem, exactly? |
No one really knows, Susan says. Microsoft estimates that 157 million Americans — about half the population — aren’t using relatively fast internet connections. The government, using different counting methods, says more than 21 million Americans, mostly in rural areas, don’t have access to fast internet. |
Either way, a lot of people are being left behind. In rural and suburban areas, people may have the choice of only a modern version of dial-up internet. In cities where fast internet is widespread, many lower-income people can’t afford it. Americans pay more for worse service than our counterparts in many affluent countries. |
How to get fast and affordable internet to everyone: |
Susan says the root of the problem is that big companies like AT&T and Comcast both control the internet pipelines and charge us to gain access to them. They don’t have an incentive to build affordable internet everywhere. |
What we need, Susan says, is a foundation of internet pipelines treated as a public good that will encourage competition for our internet dollars. |
She proposes the federal government give priority to local governments, nonprofits and other organizations with a public purpose to receive subsidies, tax breaks and low-cost loans for building fast and affordable internet connections. |
This seems like a government takeover of the internet. |
Susan doesn’t want the government to own internet lines. But she says our system doesn’t work, and the government has stepped in before to ensure essential services reach everyone at reasonable prices. |
Before the Great Depression, companies divided up the electrical grid from place to place, and mostly only businesses and rich people in cities had access to it. The government started providing loans and other help to municipal and rural power organizations. Electricity became ubiquitous. |
“We solved these problems in the past, but we keep forgetting,” Susan said. “We can do better as a country.” |
Susan says the bill for a government-backed internet expansion would be larger than the $80 billion the Obama administration once estimated. (She believes investors other than the government would be involved.) |
The costs are worth it, she says. The issues that we care about — fair access to good education, renewable energy, effective health care and new technologies like driverless cars — all depend on having high-grade internet networks everywhere and for everyone. |
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Think local for tech S.O.S. |
Brian X. Chen, our personal tech columnist, has advice if — OK, WHEN — you break one of your gadgets. |
While many of us are required to stay home, we will probably run into some sort of tech disaster. (I’m thinking about all the toilet phones out there.) Unfortunately, many gadget stores with repair centers, including Apple and Microsoft retail stores, are closed during the pandemic. |
But here’s another nice idea: Try to support your independent repair technicians. |
There are probably phone and computer repair specialists in your area who would appreciate your business. Look them up with a quick Yelp or Google search, reach out to them and see if they can help. Ideally, they should be able to help you while keeping a safe distance. |
- Pack your virtual bags: The Times put together ways to explore from home the destinations in the list of 52 Places to Go in 2020. This video of a waterway trip through the Bolivian Amazon is almost like being there — kind of.
- An apple for teacher YouTube: YouTube channels for educational programs like Amoeba Sisters and Khan Academy are seeing huge demand from children (and their parents) eager for stand-in educators and entertainers. Bloomberg News reported that daily views of YouTube clips with “home school” in the title more than doubled in the past month.
- Hmm. Llama or piggy? For less than $100, a Bay Area animal sanctuary will let one of its llamas, goats, pigs, turkeys or other farm animals make a virtual appearance in your online-video happy hour or staff meeting, Business Insider reported.
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This TikTok video is a visual masterpiece combining the beauty of pie baking with the horrible anxiety of pandemic life. |
