digital divide

Digital Divide Hinders Access For Low-Income Families

Computer-AccessFollowing up on my discussion last week to get the presidential candidates to pay more attention to STEM policy, I would hope the next president will also focus some energy on the digital divide, especially among our low-income young people.  

A new research report – “Opportunity for All? Technology and Learning in Lower-Income Families” – released by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, a nonprofit research organization focused on children and digital media, shows that low-income American families still don’t have consistent and adequate access to the Internet at home.  Although most Americans of all economic backgrounds have near universal online access through their mobile devices, there are limitations in use and service.

“Not all connectivity is created equal, and not all devices provide the same kinds of online experiences,” the report reads. “Many families face limitations in the form of service cutoffs, slow service, older technology, or difficulty using equipment because too many people are sharing devices.”

Also, you can’t exactly write a book report on a mobile phone.  Technology plays a critical role in education today, from researching a subject to communicating with teachers and other students online.  This digital divide not only affects a student’s ability to participate in class work but also to make social and economic advances in adulthood.  Not being able to get online can literally set you back in many ways today.  More and more colleges and employers require potential students and employees respectively to apply online.  

Here are some other key findings:

  • Families headed by Hispanic immigrants are less connected than other low- and moderate-income families. One in ten immigrant Hispanic families has no Internet access at all, compared with 7 percent of U.S.-born Hispanics, 5 percent of Whites, and one percent of blacks. Forty-one percent of Hispanic immigrant parents report mobile-only Internet access, compared with 25 percent of blacks, 16 percent of Whites, and 17 percent of U.S.-born Hispanics below the median income.
  • The main reason some families do not have home computers or Internet access is not because they cannot afford it, but discounted Internet programs are reaching very few.
  • Low- and moderate-income parents use the Internet for a broad range of purposes, but mobile-only families are less likely to do certain online activities.  Those certain activities include online shopping and banking and applying for jobs.
  • Children from low- and moderate-income families use computers and the Internet for a variety of educational activities, but those without home access are less likely to go online to pursue their interests.
  • Parents feel largely positive about the Internet and digital technology, but many also have concerns. Concerns include children being exposed to inappropriate online content, online bullying and technology distracting students from their education.
  • Children and parents frequently learn with, and about, technology together, especially in families with the lowest incomes and where parents have less education.

A couple of weeks ago, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center and Rutgers University hosted a Digital Equity conference in Washington DC discussing these issues.  

Why America Needs Broadband Reform

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broadband-tv-phone package prices

We all know the price for internet access in the United States is getting out of control.  But this issue really came close to home a couple of months ago when a good friend of mine and longtime neighbor was laid off from her job.  She told me that in order for her to cut down on expenses, one of the first things she did was cancel her internet and cable TV package with her provider.

I can understand getting rid of cable TV, which mostly shows useless programming these days, but the internet seemed like an ironic decision.  She can’t afford to have internet access anymore because she lost her job; however, she needs internet access to search for her next job.  Of course, being a good friend, I offered to let her use my computer if she needed it.

However, even I wonder how much longer I will be able to afford my combo package.  I have a internet and land line phone package that costs roughly US$115 a month.  I considered dropping the phone and just getting an internet subscription recently.  When I contacted my provider, I was told it would cost US$39 just for the internet, but that doesn’t include all the other taxes and “hidden fees”, which jumps the price up to near US$90 a month.  So I ended up keeping my phone and internet package.

My friend is a single mother with two small children.  When she was working, she was barely making above minimum wage.  Not having internet access in her home is a burden for her in other ways too.  She has a desktop computer, so she doesn’t have the luxury of taking a portable computer to the local Starbucks or library to use the free WiFi.

She could use the computers for free at the library, but that comes with problems sometimes.  There is always a line of people waiting to use the computers.  Users are only given 30 minutes and can extend their time by another 30 minutes if there isn’t another person waiting, which is not very often.  Sometimes there is no guarantee that you will even get to use a computer before the library closes.

Even if you do get a computer, 30 minutes to do a job search is not enough time.  Most of the time, the connection speed is slow.  There are only four computers in the adult area for use, and two of them are either broken or down because of a virus most of the time.  There is no IT support guy in the library to fix the problem, and the staff librarians don’t know what to do with broken computers.

Luckily, there are programs like Technology Goes Home and other government subsidized programs she may qualify for, but even this is just a small band aid on a gushing wound.

My friend is like millions of other Americans who are being impacted by a new kind of digital divide.

I did a little research to see how other countries line up with the United States regarding cost and speed, and let me tell you, if more Americans knew what people in other countries pay for their internet service, there would be riots in the streets.

countries with high-speed broadband

As you can see in the top images, South Korea leads the world in both low cost and high broadband speeds.  Unlike in the United States, South Korea recognizes that internet access is a basic utility and not a luxury item.  Interestingly enough, this was the same exact conversation Americans were having 100 years ago; just replace internet with electricity.  Yes, there was a time in this country’s history when only rich people could afford to have electricity in their homes, while the rest of the country was price gouged.  Eventually, this country came to the realization that it was in society’s best interest that everyone have access to electricity.

Today we take electricity access for granted; we just expect it to be there when we switch on a light or recharge our mobiles.  At this time in our history internet access should also be seen as essential for our lives too.  There are not many things in life you can do anymore without internet access.  It is time to better regulate how private companies provide their internet service so people like my friend are not left behind in the new digital age.

Telecom World Global Previews

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telecom_world_2013Greetings from Bangkok, where the staff of Global Wire Associates is attending Telecom World 2013, the world’s largest gathering of ICT professionals. In the coming weeks, we will give reports on everything we saw and the policy discussions heard that we think would be of interest to you guys.

It is no surprise the conference is being held in Asia this year, where many countries in the region are becoming emerging leaders in tech innovation.

Soichiro Seki, Director-General for International Affairs in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in Japan spoke to ITU about the important role Asian nations will play at the conference.

Many African nations are also making a lot of noise in the ICT sector like in Nigeria. Omobola Johnson, Nigeria’s Minister of Communication Technology, spoke to ITU about upcoming broadband projects in her country.

Finally, Latin America has seen a growing tech start up community in recent years. Diego Molano Vega, Minister of ICT in Colombia, spoke to ITU about how ICTs are helping to fight poverty.

Network Security in Africa = Cyber Redlining?

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africaredline

Cyber security gained attention again last week as both the United States and the European Union put forth strategies for combating the growing threat of cyber attacks.  The European Commission released its new plan, An Open, Safe and Secure Cyberspace, which seeks to “ensure a secure and trustworthy digital environment throughout the EU” with three main strategies:

• Each member state must set up a computer emergency response team (Cert).

• Each member state must nominate a competent authority to deal with network and information security, to which companies would report breaches. These authorities need to have plans for dealing with major incidents.

• Specific sectors – such as banking, transport, energy, health, internet companies and public administrations – must adopt risk management practices and report major incidents.

During his State of the Union address, President Obama announced his new executive order on cyber security.  While many have already panned the order for either being anti-business or being weaker than what his administration had proposed two years ago, Obama stressed the importance of moving forward on securing the nation’s networks.

“Now, we know hackers steal people’s identities and infiltrate private emails,” Obama said.  ”We know foreign countries and companies swipe our corporate secrets.  Now our enemies are also seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions, our air traffic control systems.  We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy”

Just in the last two weeks alone, Facebook, The New York Times and the U.S. Federal Reserve have become the latest victims of hacking. While some of the efforts to address cyber attacks should be applauded, have strict cyber security strategies become another contributor to the digital divide?

I happened to attend a great talk last week where Jenna Burrell, UC Berkeley professor and author of Invisible Users: Youth in the Internet Cafes of Urban Ghana, argues that the fear of online fraud and hacking in Western countries are possibly creating Internet access barriers in developing countries.  Burrell, an ethnographer by training, spent six years researching Internet cafe culture among young, middle-income Ghanaians.

She said that many websites that Westerners commonly use like Amazon, PayPal and Match.com have their IP addresses completely blocked in many African countries.  Burrell said she attempted to log into Amazon and PayPal accounts while in Ghana and her accounts were either suspended or detoured to another page to confirm that she really was who she said she was.  According to Burrell, the dating website Plenty of Fish blocks “all major traffic from Africa (yes, the whole continent of Africa!), Romania, Turkey, India and Russia.”

I have traveled to many countries throughout the developing world, and I have seen some of the issues Burrell has witnessed myself.  I remember traveling through South Africa and Botswana a few years ago, and noticing that when I looked up certain e-commerce websites, I was also detoured to another webpage.  The detoured page usually said that I was not allowed to look at that website.  At first I thought there was a random problem with my Internet connection, until a Tanzanian business partner I was traveling with told me that it was common for the IP addresses of major online companies to be blocked because of this fraud fear.  Interesting to note I have seen less blockage in countries where there is a high rate of Western tourists, like Thailand and Jamaica.

Mind you, online fraud and hacking is a big problem, and cyber criminals can be found in every corner around the world.  We have all received those annoying Nigerian emails seeking financial help for a family member who wants to go to school in America. But it seems a bit harsh and unfair to punish a whole continent, let alone a whole country, for the criminal actions of a few people.  Web address blocking also slows down the ability for many in the developing world to participate in the global economy, where so much about our way of life in general are more dependent on Internet access.  The New York Times was hacked by Chinese infiltrators, but there isn’t a movement to block IP addresses of Western companies in China?  In fact, since China is considered an “emerging market,” many major businesses have an online presence in the country, including Amazon and PayPal.

Redlining is the practice of denying access to services and products to a particular group of people.  In the United States, redlining is mostly associated with housing and credit discrimination against low-income African-Americans.  The severe IP blockage in Africa and other developing countries makes one wonder if this same level of discrimination is occurring.  Reginold A. Roylston, a UC Berkerley Ph.D candidate, first suggested to Burrell that cyber redlining might be happening here.

However, when is country-level IP address blocking justified?  There seems to be a fine line here between online censorship and free enterprise.  Legally, one can’t tell a private firm where they can and can not do business.  Companies such as Amazon likely do thorough market analysis of countries before they enter into a business relationship with them.  One analysis may look at “risks” and maybe Amazon feels that Ghana is too technologically risky not only because of the higher risk of online fraud, but it is also not commercially viable since Ghana is mostly a cash-based economy.

Over the last five years, many African governments have started to require new mobile phone users to register their SIM cards in the hope of reducing cyber attacks.  Nonetheless, more education is needed on this subject, especially in Western countries where Internet access can be taken for granted.  I want to do my part by bringing this issue up to the attention of my readers.   If you know of any IP address blocking going on anywhere in the world, you can report it to Herdict, a portal that “collects and disseminates real-­time, crowdsourced information about Internet filtering, denial of service attacks, and other blockages.”

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