‘We Can Do Better’: One Plan to Erase America’s Digital Divide

Susan Crawford, a Harvard Law School professor, says the root of the digital divide is that big companies like AT&T and Comcast both control the internet pipelines and charge us to gain access to them. They don’t have an incentive to build affordable internet everywhere. What we need is a foundation of internet pipelines treated as a public good that will encourage competition for our internet dollars. She proposes the federal government give priority to local governments, nonprofits and other organizations with a public purpose to receive subsidies, tax breaks and low-cost loans for building fast and affordable internet connections. says the bill for a government-backed internet expansion would be larger than the $80 billion the Obama administration once estimated. But she also says the costs are worth it. The issues that we care about — fair access to good education, renewable energy, effective health care and new technologies like driverless cars — all depend on having high-grade internet networks everywhere and for everyone.