U.S. Policy Faulted Over Broadband Digital Divide

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Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2004
Subject:U.S. Policy Faulted Over Broadband Digital Divide

According to a report released by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA)
and Consumers Union (CU), the digital divide in America is growing because
consumers pay inflated prices for the basic services needed to connect to
high-speed Internet. The report, titled "Expanding the Digital Divide and 
Falling
Behind in Broadband," concludes that Americans pay ten to 20 times as much as
consumers in Korea and Japan for broadband, and that the United States has 
fallen
from third to thirteenth in the world in the percentage of citizens with
broadband service. Mark Cooper, director of research for CFA, noted that 
about half
of all households with incomes above $75,000 have broadband, but that half of
all households with incomes below $30,000 do not even have a slow Internet
connection. The report faults the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 
for its
policy of allowing cable and telephone companies to set high prices and
exclude competitors from their networks. This policy "undermines the 
commitment to
universal adoption of a service that is vital to the daily life of all
citizens and consumers in the digital information age and threatens to turn 
the
digital divide into a permanent, digital chasm," the report says.
<http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA483314?display=NewsNews&industry=News&industryid=1986&verticalid=151>



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