FC: US redefines 'digital divide' to include... no cable TV!

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

And an unrelated article I did on law enforcement lack of clue in the DoS 
attacks:
  http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,34240,00.html



> From: Adam Powell <apowell () freedomforum org>
> To: "'declan () well com'" <declan () well com>
> Subject: US redefines 'digital divide' to include TV
> Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2000 15:53:21 -0500
>
> Hi Declan-
> NTIA chief Greg Rohde startled a few folks at the end of his lunch speech
> today, and I just wrote it up. I asked whether it would be posted on the
> NTIA Web site, and he said no, because he was ad libbing. This is best
> viewed on line, of course, with all the links...
> Cheers
> Adam
>
> --
>
> http://www.freedomforum.org/technology/2000/2/9digitaldivide.asp
>
> Move over, Internet:
> 'digital divide' now includes plain, old analog TV
>
> By Adam Clayton Powell III
> The Freedom Forum Online
>
> 2.9.2000
>
> WASHINGTON - Last summer, the federal government defined "digital divide" as
> a "racial ravine," and last week, President Clinton announced a $2.3 billion
> initiative help minority and low-income Americans get Internet access.
>
> But today, Assistant Commerce Secretary Gregory Rohde redefined the digital
> divide and promised federal aid would also go to rural farms - for regular
> television service.
>
> "Some of you have seen news reports recently questioning the digital
> divide," said Rohde, referring to a growing debate on whether there is still
> a major disparity by race in Internet or computer use.
>
> "The digital divide is real," Rohde continued, saying he had seen it in his
> home state, North Dakota.
>
> Rohde singled out the town of Foxholm, N.D., which he described as a small
> farm community near Minot. Because Foxholm is in a ravine, over-the-air
> television signals can't reach it, he said, and it has no cable television
> service.
>
> "This is the digital divide," Rohde said.
>
> Answering questions after his remarks, Rohde said he would soon announce a
> program to use the federal digital-divide fund to pay for analog TV service
> to rural areas. The secretary said a call for public comments would be
> issued shortly, and he hoped federal aid could be directed to the problem
> later this year.
>
> Many Americans in remote rural areas who do not have broadcast or cable TV
> service now watch television on DirecTV and other satellite TV services.
> Rohde called that inadequate, citing "harsh weather" in North Dakota and the
> need for farmers to get weather forecasts on local TV stations (from nearby
> Minot, in this case) as an objective of the new initiative.
>
> Asked specifically how the digital-divide funds could be used for this
> program, Rohde said he favored a "loan-guarantee approach" to spur cable TV,
> satellite or telephone companies to extend local television signals to
> pockets of the U.S. where, as in Foxholm, residents cannot receive
> over-the-air TV.
>
> Rohde, who replaced Larry Irving as assistant commerce secretary last fall,
> made his remarks at a forum sponsored by the Media Institute in Washington.
>
> Until now, the federal government has applied the term "digital divide" to
> computers and the Internet.
>
> "When we talk about bridging the digital divide, what do we mean?" asked
> President Clinton last week in announcing the $2.3 billion federal
> assistance program. "We mean that everybody ought to have access to a
> computer; everybody ought to have access to the Internet; everybody ought to
> know how to use it and then we ought to make it possible for people to make
> the maximum use of it."
>
> But now, the "digital divide" also apparently includes farmers who cannot
> watch local weather on television.

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