Minorities Don't Lag in Net Usage, Says USIIA

MINORITIES DON'T LAG IN NET USAGE, SAYS USIIA
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Appearing to back up assertions by Illinois Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush, the U.S. Internet Industry Association (USIIA) is circulating a White Paper by its president suggesting the minority community is not lagging the rest of the nation in Internet usage. The "digital divide" theory has informed much of the debate over legislation to revise telecommunications policy to speed the universal roll-out to high-speed Internet service, with some legislators pushing for so-called anti-redlining provisions and build-out requirements. USIIA counters that "English-speaking minority groups [are] leading the nation in the adoption of modern communications technology." At a House Telecommunications Subcommittee hearing on a telecommunications reform bill earlier this month, Rep Rush, who co-sponsored the bill, suggested that his constituents, many of them African-American, didn't need to be taken care of through build-out provisions but instead needed the lower prices for cable service that the bill would produce by creating national video franchises and spurring competition to cable from telcos and others.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6326353?display=Breaking+News

* See "Keeping cable TV diverse and affordable" for more from Rep Rush
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_opinion_letters/2006/04/keeping...

* See USIIA's White Paper "Proposed Legislation and Its Impact On Consumer's Use Of Broadband and IP Services"
An examination of the needs and expectations for broadband content and applications by U.S. Seniors, Asian-Americans, African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and others
http://www.usiia.org/pubs/segmentation.doc