State Laws Allowed AT&T to Exclude Cleveland's Poorest Neighborhoods From High-Speed Internet Service

Internet download speeds are glacial once you get into neighborhoods like Glenville in Cleveland (OH), where AT&T willfully avoided rolling out its U-Verse service a few years back. The company has been accused of "digital redlining," specifically of leaving the poorest neighborhoods out of its infrastructure improvements in cities like Cleveland, Toledo (OH), Dayton (OH), Louisville (KY), Detroit (MI) and Milwaukee (WI).

Ashbury Senior Computer Community Center works closely with Connect Your Community, a local organization that in 2016 began a comprehensive investigation into the real story behind Cleveland's incongruous internet access — the digital divide. The group ended up uncovering a web of discriminatory practices authorized in full by the state of Ohio.