In one of her last commentaries before her death at age 78 this week,
civil rights activist C. Delores Tucker authored the following essay
about broadband "red-lining" - the practice of telecom companies
purposely avoiding the deployment of high-speed Internet services in
low-income, marginalized communities. -andy
Civil Rights Unplugged
Picture for a minute a major financial institution petitioning Congress
for special rules to allow it to provide loans only in certain
communities throughout the country. "The cities are off limits!" says
this fictional creditor, "and the moderate, middle-income communities .
. . forget about it! They're not high-end enough."
Were such a corporate actor to step into the political arena, civil
rights and political leaders would be quick with their denunciations,
attacking the proposal as the kind of odious bigotry seen in a bygone
era. Yet this is exactly what the Bell telecommunications monopolies --
Verizon and SBC -- are proposing to Congress and to legislators in
California, New Jersey and other places around the country. They are
insisting that lawmakers bless their proposal to roll out new digital
television and advanced broadband services only to the more affluent.
<snip>
The telephone companies' proposal is made precisely for the purpose of
allowing them to invest less, and in fewer communities -- rather than
more, as the current rules require. And as for their perennial promises
of more investment in exchange for legislative favors: Legislators
around the country have derided SBC and Verizon for never fulfilling
such pledges.
Don't get me wrong. I support Verizon and SBC's entrance into the video
services market, and I believe that consumers will benefit from it. But
these potential benefits should not transform our elected officials into
marionettes for two monopolies that want to trample our civil rights
traditions.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/14/AR2005101401679.html
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Andy Carvin
Program Director
EDC Center for Media & Community
acarvin @ edc . org
http://www.digitaldivide.net
http://katrina05.blogspot.com
Blog: http://www.andycarvin.com
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