Diversity

44 public interest, civil rights, racial justice, and consumer groups wrote a letter urging Congress to prioritize civil rights concerns when developing consumer privacy legislation. The letter reads:

The National Hispanic Media Coalition joined Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Common Cause, Communications Workers of America, United Church of Christ and members of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Media/Telecom Task Force in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission expressing concern over proposed findings in the agency’s upcoming Broadband Deployment Progress Report. They requested the FCC:

The emergence of fifth generation (5G) mobile networks is elevating the need for stakeholders to assess infrastructure and cost inclusivity in order to address this digital divide. Communities of color, who often find themselves on the wrong side of the divide, are poised to benefit from 5G technologies that enable internet of things (IoT) applications in health care, education, transportation, and energy. However, this outcome is contingent on stakeholder buy-in, advocacy, and programming of intentional diversity initiatives.

The lack of diversity in tech policy means that regulators and lawmakers make policy decisions that impact marginalized groups from a perspective that is not inclusive of the viewpoints of these communities. I thought it was important to bring these thoughts to the forefront and also identify some solutions for resolving this diversity issue so we can make a transition from #TechPolicySoWhite to #TechPolicyKindaWhite to #TechPolicySoDiverse. Solutions to remedy the lack of diversity in tech policy:

A proposed merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, the country’s third- and fourth-largest wireless operators, would have a profound impact on Californians. Wireless prices will rise so the merger will be particularly onerous for customers on tight budgets. In California especially, low-income customers tend to be people of color and immigrants. The merger would therefore disproportionately burden this vulnerable group — many of whom rely on cellphones as their only form of internet access.

In 2018, women comprised 20% of all directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers working on the top 250 domestic grossing films.  This represents an increase of 2 percentage points from 18% in 2017.  In 2018, only 1% of films employed 10 or more women in the above roles.  In contrast, 74% of films employed 10 or more men.  Women accounted for 8% of directors, down 3 percentage points from 11% in 2017.  This is 1 percentage point below the 9% achieved in 1998.