Politech: FC: So-called "digital divide" no longer exists, by Sonia Arrison

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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Subject: Time to dump the digital divide rhetoric
From: "Sonia Arrison" <SArrison () pacificresearch org>
To: <declan () well com>

Dear Declan,

I thought your Politech readers might be interested in this piece on the 
digital divide.
Best,
Sonia


http://news.com.com/2010-1078-858537.html

What digital divide?
By Sonia Arrison  <mailto:letters () news com>
March 13, 2002, 4:00 AM PT

A new report from the Department of Commerce brings good news to most 
Americans and serves as a wake-up call for those who believe the digital 
divide is the civil liberties issue of the 21st century.
The digital divide refers to the gap between those who have access to 
technology and those who do not. Back in the heady days of the dot-com boom 
everything was out of proportion, including political rhetoric. The Rev. 
Jesse Jackson, for example, called the digital divide "classic apartheid," 
the NAACP's Kweisi Mfume dubbed it "technological segregation," and 
President Clinton urged a "national crusade."
But a new report from the Department of Commerce (DOC), "A Nation online: 
How Americans are expanding their use of the Internet 
<http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/dn/index.html>," helps to explain why the 
digital divide is not a crisis that places citizens in urgent need of more 
government help.
More than half the population of the United States is now online, an 
increase of 26 million people in 13 months, and the number continues to 
grow. The report also shows that Internet use is continuing to increase for 
everyone regardless of income, education, age, race, ethnicity or gender. 
Even groups not historically "early adopters" are growing their online 
presence. For instance, the DOC report shows that 39.8 percent of blacks 
and 31.6 percent of Hispanics are online.
What might be the most remarkable finding of the DOC report is that 
"between December 1998 and September 2001, Internet use by individuals in 
the lowest income households (those earning less than $15,000 per year) 
increased at a 25 percent annual growth rate." In 2001, 25 percent of lower 
income people were online, and if things continue at this rate, it won't be 
long before virtually everyone who wants to connect can.
Further, last week, Jupiter Media Metrix reported 
<http://investor.cnet.com/investor/news/newsitem/0-9900-1028-8984765-0.html> 
that the age of online shoppers is moving up while the income level drops. 
In other words, those on the Net are starting to look a lot more like the 
real world population. This is a good time to re-evaluate some of the 
assumptions that fed the digital divide hysteria.
Not all individuals want to use computers or get online. Everyone knows 
someone, rich or poor, who chooses not to have voice mail, call waiting, or 
even a television. Many of the Internet's so-called "have-nots" are really 
"want-nots."
[...]




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