The funding will allow elementary schools, high schools and libraries to purchase Wi-Fi hotspots, modems, and routers for students, and also fund the Internet service that those devices use. It will be distributed through the FCC’s E-rate program, which has long helped schools and libraries obtain affordable Internet access.
Geoffrey Starks, the Democratic FCC commissioner, said the funding is necessary to ensure all students can keep learning. He said he recently met with Detroit middle- school students and heard firsthand about how they’re being “locked out of the virtual classroom.”
“They told me that a large share of their classmates cannot participate, and many have quit virtual learning out of frustration with slow broadband speeds and inadequate devices,” Starks told me in an email. “Those students are not alone.”
The funding comes as a year of school closures has highlighted the costs of the digital divide.
An estimated 12 million American children lacking basic broadband were unable to connect to online school at a time when that was the only option in many school districts. Those students can’t get this year back — but lawmakers and advocates hope this funding will be distributed quickly so they do not fall further behind.
“Throughout this pandemic, we have asked our students to shoulder an enormous burden and continue their education from home,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said in a statement. “This funding will help ensure that the ‘homework gap’ does not grow into a damaging learning and opportunity gap for our children.”
The pandemic is increasing the pressure for Washington to address the digital divide.
Online services have become a lifeline during shutdowns over the past year. And even as society reopens, Americans are expected to remain more dependent on the Internet than they were pre-pandemic.
The large amount of funding is a victory for children’s advocates who have long pressed Washington to take up some programs. But they say their next goal is to ensure the funding is effectively implemented, and assure there are permanent programs to help kids stay online.
Jim Steyer, the founder of Common Sense Media who advocates on behalf of children, told me the funding was a “huge” victory. However he said it’s imperative Washington moves quickly to put the money to work, especially after millions of children effectively lost a year of education. He said it will be challenging to distribute devices to families by the spring, but is hopeful they will be in a better place by fall.
“We need to get the kids the devices and broadband they need, and put this money to work right away,” he said.
This funding is part of a broader effort to address Americans’ access to the Internet during the pandemic. As my colleague Tony Romm has detailed, the last stimulus package created a program allowing low-income Americans to get $50 subsidies toward their Internet bills at a time when such connections are essential for doctors’ appointments, signing up for the vaccine and many other key tasks.
The relief package also addresses other tech problems that arose during the pandemic.
In addition to broadband, the package tackles some of the technology problems plaguing local government systems over the past year, as my colleague Tonya Riley reported today. Government websites and systems for registering for unemployment benefits have crashed under a surge in demand for online services.
The bill includes $2 billion in funding to help state unemployment systems distribute funding more effectively, which could be used to limit fraud and bolster websites to keep up with the intense demand for benefits.
The package also includes $1 billion for the General Services Administration’s Technology Modernization Fund, which allocates funding to federal agencies seeking to update and strengthen their technology systems. It also allocates $200 million toward the U.S. Digital Service, and $150 million toward the Federal Citizens Service Fund. Both focus on modernizing government systems.
Our top tabs
Apple is battling the creator of a diverse emoji app, highlighting power inequities within app stores.
Katrina Parrott sunk her savings into her iDiversicons app, but her creation turned into heartbreak when Apple made it obsolete by incorporating skin tone options into its operating system, Reed Albergotti reports. The Black mother’s story — and her lawsuit against Apple for copyright infringement — show how Apple’s efforts to portray itself as an agent for racial justice only go so far.
Parrott said she spoke with an Apple employee about partnering with the company or negotiating a royalty for the emoji.
“There is probably no Black woman in the history of the planet who has impacted more people’s ability to communicate,” said Jennifer 8. Lee, a vice chairman of the emoji subcommittee of Unicode Consortium, which approves emoji. “If she had been a White male from Stanford or MIT in her mid 20s, it’s more likely her company would have been acquired by Apple.”
Apple spokeswoman Jacqueline Roy declined to comment, other than to point to Apple court filings that argue “copyright does not protect the idea of applying five different skin tones to emoji because ideas are not copyrightable.” Apple also said in filings independently developed diverse skin tone emoji.
Amazon prevents libraries from lending its book titles, concerning lawmakers.
The company does not allow downloadable copies of its publishing arm’s books to be lent through public libraries, a critical issue amid a pandemic that cut off physical access to libraries, Geoffrey Fowler reports.
More than 10,000 e-books, tens of thousands of audiobooks and a vast number of self-published titles are missing from the digital collections. The American Library Association called digital sales bans “the worst obstacle for libraries,” and lawmakers are taking notice. As more lawmakers propose legislation to require publishers to sell e-books to libraries with reasonable terms, Maryland’s House is preparing to vote on its own bill this week.
“It’s not clear to us that current digital library lending models fairly balance the interests of authors and library patrons,” Mikyla Bruder, the publisher of Amazon Publishing, said in an emailed statement. “We see this as an opportunity to invent a new approach to help expand readership and serve library patrons, while at the same time safeguarding author interests, including income and royalties.” The company declined a request for an interview. (Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
The Biden administration’s first chief information officer is a government tech veteran.
Clare Martorana will be federal chief information officer and administrator of the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) electronic government office, the Biden administration said. Her appointment comes at a critical time for government IT, which is reeling from a crippling cyberattack as local governments struggle to use digital infrastructure to distribute coronavirus vaccinations.
Martorana, who was most recently OMB’s chief information officer, has been tasked with making voter information more accessible and modernizing government systems and cybersecurity, FastCompany’s Katharine Schwab reports.
Rant and rave
T-Mobile’s plan to automatically enroll its customers in advertising informed by their Internet activity provoked strong reactions on Twitter. Journalist Karl Bode:
Faiza Patel, the co-director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program:
John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab, noted that T-Mobile has entered the comments:
Competition watch
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- Keith Fernandez, who previously worked at Technet and Univision, has been named DoorDash’s new senior manager for social impact communications.
Daybook
- A Senate Judiciary Committee panel holds an antitrust hearing on Thursday at 10 a.m.
- The Brookings Institution hosts an event on the government’s role in reducing bias in algorithms on Friday at 9 a.m.
- A House Judiciary committee panel holds a hearing on technology competition and the press on Friday at 10 a.m. Microsoft president Brad Smith is expected to testify.
- Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, the chairman of a government commission on artificial intelligence, testifies with other commissioners at a joint hearing on Friday at 11 a.m.
- Former National Institute of Standards and Technology director Walt Copan and former United States Patent and Trademark Office director Andrei Iancu speak at an event on innovation hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Friday at 11 a.m.
- The Brookings Institution hosts an event on harassment in online gaming on March 15 at 3 p.m.
