Public Knowledge Urges FCC to Swiftly and Forcefully Address Digital Discrimination

Rarely does Congress speak as definitively and clearly as it did with Section 1754: ordering the Federal Communications Commission, within 2 years to enact regulations to “eliminate” existing digital discrimination on the basis of “income level, race, ethnicity, color, religion, or national origin” and to prevent it from recurring in the future. The FCC should interpret this instruction for what it is: a rebuke of the last 25 years of failed policies and “light touch” regulation under the apparent delusion that for the first time in 90 years “the market” would bring universal service to all Americans without FCC action. In the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress explicitly prohibited discrimination on the “basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex,” and required the FCC to ensure “timely” deployment of broadband to all Americans. But 25 years later, Congress was forced to find that the “persistent digital divide . . . disproportionately affects communities of color, lower-income areas, and rural areas, and the benefits of broadband should be broadly enjoyed by all.” Unsurprisingly, carriers and their allies have sought to obscure and undermine the Congressional mandate to shift from a regime of “hopes and prayers” to one of rules and enforceable rights. They urge the FCC to adopt the most toothless, least effective regulations possible. Essentially they ask the FCC to treat Section 60506 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act as it treated Section 706 of the 1996 Act before it, as a “hortatory” but ultimately meaningless provision. The Commission should reject these efforts as contrary to the plain language of the statute and the record compiled in response to the Notice of Inquiry supporting Congress’ finding of a persistent digital divide that disproportionately impacts low-income communities and communities of color.