 | |
| |
TechnologyDaily Mobile
The Political Divide Over Tech Access
by Teri Rucker
Since the Bush administration began its work 18 months ago, talk of the "digital divide" that was a refrain of the Clinton administration has all but disappeared from the lexicon of Washington, according to the people who champion the closing of the technology gap.
The Bush administration's "silence is deafening," said Andy Carvin, senior associate at the Benton Foundation and coordinator of the Digital Divide Network. Lack of leadership at the highest levels will only widen the inequities in technology access among the poor and ethnic minorities, Carvin and other administration critics said.
The Clinton administration supported programs such as the Technology Opportunities Program (TOPS) and community technology centers (CTCs), Carvin noted, but it was "the fact that [President] Clinton and [Vice President] Gore were out there pressing the flesh and talking about the digital divide." He added that while "the Bush administration seems to support those basic ideas," bridging the digital divide "is not on their radar screen. It is something they push off into a corner and pretend is not an issue."
But Bush administration officials said that simply because they do not echo the previous administration's phrasing does not mean they are indifferent to the idea of bringing technology to all Americans. "I don't think it is fair to suggest that our failure to use their same language of 'divide' instead of 'opportunity' or to embrace their policies and agenda reflects any lack of commitment to leave no child behind or to broaden opportunities for all Americans and around the world," said Bruce Mehlman, the Commerce Department's assistant secretary for technology policy.
A Philosophical Difference
"At the highest level, there is a bit of a philosophical difference about what government can do and does best," Mehlman said. "The Bush administration focuses on setting the environment for economic growth, educational success and for private-sector leadership."
A National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) report on the digital divide released earlier this year found that about 25 percent of low-income individuals and minorities are online, and the report is optimistic that the remaining 75 percent eventually will become technology users.
But Carvin said that notion works only for the middle class and not the poorest communities. "It makes no sense to me to assume that people with such low incomes" who have to choose between feeding their children and buying a computer will make the investment in technology and sign up for Internet access, he said.
Nor do corporations value everyone equally, others said. "The marketplace doesn't value black and brown consumers as they should," former NTIA Director Larry Irving said. If companies did, the tech gap would close more quickly. Even if prices decline, without effective policies to deploy technology to disadvantaged populations, they simply will not have access, he said.
But "the government can't do it" with policies, Hector Barreto, administrator of the Small Business Administration, said at a recent town-hall meeting on the digital divide. Instead, the responsibility falls to corporations and the administration's creation of the right economic environment, he said.
Mehlman pointed to tax cuts, a focus on educational technology at the Education Department and an emphasis on faith-based institutions as proof that the administration is thinking about the issue. And skeptics said there really is no divide and that as the cost of technology drops, more individuals will be able to afford it, just as it happened with radio, television, videocassette recorders and other new technologies.
Is It About Leadership?
Even if the market strategy were to succeed, advocates of more active government engagement said, it would take so long to get computers and Internet access to those who need it most to improve their circumstances in society that it could be too late for many people.
"The divide is about existing inequities, and we are looking at those inequities increasing if we don't close the divide," Irving said.
The divide demands government involvement, advocates said, because it is about providing access to education, job skills and life skills, not entertainment. Because technology is essential to participation in today's economy, Angela Glover Blackwell, president of PolicyLink, said at the town-hall meeting sponsored by Microsoft, "this is an issue that requires government leadership."
"Not only do the disadvantaged lose an opportunity to participate in the economy, but the economy can't take advantage of their contributions if they don't get linked," she said, and that means the nation will not be as competitive globally.
A first step would be preserving the TOPS program and federal funding for CTCs, Carvin said. The Bush administration has proposed cutting funding for those projects in fiscal 2003. But the response to the digital divide is not just about government programs, Carvin added. Use of the bully pulpit during the Clinton administration inspired corporations to find creative solutions to the problem.
The current administration is missing leaders who understand the link between information technology, literacy, the economy and democracy, Carvin said. While the Education Department has hired a couple of people who "get it," the administration overall "is not lucky enough to have that caliber of high-quality visionaries who understand these issues."
Look Over There
Despite concerns about their domestic stance on the issue, Bush administration officials emphasize the digital divide during overseas travels. For example, NTIA Director Nancy Victory was in China last week and was to discuss the technology disparities there.
Mehlman also noted that Bush has proposed "$5 billion in assistance to poor countries willing to embrace reforms needed to let the spending make a difference."
Glover Blackwell suggested that the administration consider deploying technology to hard-to-reach areas in the United States, such as rural communities and Indian reservations, as "a laboratory for the rest of the world." It would help Americans but also would be an opportunity for generating revenue here and abroad as U.S. companies prove to developing countries that they can solve their communications woes, she said.
Critics said that administration officials see China, India and other countries as ripe for purchasing U.S. products, and the administration is less concerned about improving the life of the less advantaged in America.
"They won't mention it domestically," Irving said. "It is like [they are thinking], 'There is a big elephant standing in the room, but if I don't mention it, maybe it will go away, but I have to go tell my next-door neighbor that he has an elephant in his room.'"
The Bush administration's approach to the digital divide, he added, is "politically, economically and morally baffling, and geopolitically hypocritical."
NEW FEATURE
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
