America's Digital Divide

By Charlene Porter
USIA Staff Writer

More Americans are wired to the Internet, but racial minorities still lag behind

Washington -- A study conducted by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) finds that Americans are more connected to telephones, computers and the Internet than ever before, but a widening gap exists between the rates of connection for whites as contrasted with African Americans and Hispanics.

"While we are encouraged by the dramatic growth in the access Americans have to the nation's information technologies, the growing disparity in access between certain groups and regions is alarming," Commerce Secretary William M. Daley said in a prepared statement released July 8.

The study, entitled "Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide," found that households with incomes of $75,000 and higher have Internet access at 20 times the rate of the poorest rural households.

The study is based on interviews conducted in 48,000 households by the U.S. Department of Commerce Census Bureau. It is the third such study conducted since 1995.

"America's digital divide is fast becoming a 'racial ravine,'" said Larry Irving, assistant secretary of commerce for telecommunications, defining the digital divide as the gap between the information rich and the information poor.

Discussing the report's findings at a press briefing, Irving described this gap as "one of America's leading economic and civil rights issues." The assistant secretary emphasized an "urgent need" to create more opportunity for public access to computers and the Internet.

Building a broader Internet access in schools and libraries has been a priority for the Clinton administration for the last five years and is "bearing fruit," Irving said. He added, "The data in our report shows conclusively that schools, libraries, community centers are well-used by precisely those groups that are lacking new technologies at home and at work."

Irving, also the head of NTIA, said the Clinton administration, working with various players from private industry and non-profit organizations, will be working to expand community Internet access centers. Irving said, "Low income people are using the technology the way we'd hope they'd use technology. They're using it for job searching; they're using it to further their education. These are the kinds of things we need more of."

Time and market forces may play a role in boosting the level of computer literacy among minorities. "Falling through the Net" does show significant gains in computer use among these groups in recent years, even while they remain behind whites. But Irving said more aggressive action is needed. "We're going to use market forces where they will work, and when the market doesn't work by itself ... there are some things we can manage to do in terms of public-private partnerships."

Questioned about the possibility that the federal government could act in a regulatory fashion to reduce costs for Internet accessibility, Irving said, "I don't think you're going to see out of this Congress, or this administration, a management of the telecommunications infrastructure." He characterized the Internet "right of way" as a state and local regulatory issue.

Representatives of the National Urban League, a civil rights organization, and the high- technology company Ameritech announced at the same briefing their joint plan to establish new "Digital Campuses," aiming to provide community access to computers, the Internet and instruction in high-technology skills.

Urban League Executive Vice-President Milton Little, Jr., said the partnership will aim toward building 114 state-of-the-art technology centers by the year 2006. Ameritech is providing a $350,000 grant to help start building the centers that citizens will be able to use for education, research, career development and Internet access.

Little said, "In the technology age, there can not be two societies, separate and unequal. There can not be information "haves" and "have nots."

Private industry has a self-interest in promoting and supporting projects that create greater Internet accessibility for the underserved, according to David Katz, the director of Global Market Development at 3Com Corporation, a California-based networking company. He said that the lack of high technology skills is making it difficult for 3Com and companies like his to fill important jobs. "If we fail to provide today's students with the kinds of skills they need to be successful, the digital divide is going to become an economic divide." Graduates without the proper skills will be "virtually unemployable," he added.

3Com Corporation is donating $1 million and technical resources to a project co-sponsored with the U.S. Conference of Mayors to provide improved high-technology access and training in 10 inner cities around the country.