Lower income neighborhoods shouldn't be paying so much for slower internet service

An explosive report from nonprofit journalism outlet The Markup analyzed data on internet speeds and pricing in 38 US cities and found that AT&T, Verizon, EarthLink, and CenturyLink all disproportionately offered lower-income and less-white neighborhoods slower internet for the same price that nearby whiter, wealthier neighborhoods paid for faster speeds. Discriminating against those communities by charging them more for the internet is digital redlining, and it’s yet another example of the technology and telecommunications industry’s ability to entrench and amplify social inequities. The Federal Communications Commission is the agency best poised to create and enforce rules on this matter, and the agency promised to look into this exact issue. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is working to create a task force to tackle digital discrimination, and the commission has initiated an inquiry into the problem of how it can best prevent digital discrimination. The intent is to launch new rule-making under the legal authority of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). This would allow the FCC to create a new regulation that would target digital discrimination. While it is positive that the FCC is taking charge to fix this problem, the agency’s efforts have arguably been hampered by the fact that the agency is still operating without its full number of commissioners.  Republicans have refused to confirm Gigi Sohn, a well-known expert in technology and communications policy. 250 civil society groups recently signed a letter supporting her confirmation. Until the day comes that we do have strong laws that protect internet access as a civil right, we will need to continue speaking up and shedding light on discrimination and inequity.

[Tiffany C. Li is a technology lawyer and legal scholar. She is an assistant professor of law at the University of New Hampshire School of Law and a fellow at Yale Law School's Information Society Project.]