Medium

Rural America deserves a partner in the White House. Here’s my plan to put rural Americans back in the driver’s seat:

I will make sure every home in America has a fiber broadband connection at a price families can afford. That means publicly-owned and operated networks — and no giant Internet service providers running away with taxpayer dollars. My plan will:

In part, the Congressional urgency to act on network neutrality is being driven by INCOMPAS’s strong day in court earlier in 2019. We are petitioners, along with leading consumer groups and states, in the legal fight to overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s controversial decision to end decades of bipartisan net neutrality policy. As we near some critical votes in Congress, it’s crucial not to be distracted or confused by the big Internet service provider’s attempts to muddy the waters on net neutrality. Here’s what to look out for:

America’s big tech companies have achieved their level of dominance in part based on two strategies: 1) Using Mergers to Limit Competition Using and 2) Proprietary Marketplaces to Limit Competition.

Digital distress is defined here as census tracts (neighborhoods) that had a 1) high percentage of homes not subscribing to the internet or subscribing only through a cellular data plan and a 2) high percent of homes with no computing devices or relying only on mobile devices. This post takes a deeper look at the socioeconomic characteristics of these digitally distressed areas. The socioeconomic characteristics of those in digital distress denote a higher share of minorities, less educated, poorer, and younger residents.

Digital distress areas have a harder time using and leveraging the internet to improve their quality of life due to the type of internet subscription or devices owned. Digital distress is defined here as census tracts (neighborhoods) that had a 1) high percentage of homes not subscribing to the internet or subscribing only through a cellular data plan and a 2) high percent of homes with no computing devices or relying only on mobile devices.