#internet inequality

AN OPEN LETTER to THE U.S. CONGRESS

Fund the Affordable Connectivity Program NOW!

130 so far! Help us get to 250 signers!

I’m a concerned constituent writing to urge you to fund the Affordable Connectivity Program or ACP. Digital connectivity is a basic necessity in our modern world and the internet must be treated as a public utility. We use the internet to apply for jobs, perform our jobs, receive telehealth medical treatment, and pay bills, and students use it to complete homework assignments. But for millions of people in rural and urban areas, and Tribal communities, the internet is a luxury they cannot afford. Failure by Congress to fund this program will force millions of households already on tight budgets to choose between being able to stay online or potentially losing access to this essential service. If Congress doesn’t act fast, funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program will run out and more than 22 million Americans -- 1 in 6 households -- will lose this vital service. The implications of this will be devastating. In 2019, 18% of Native people living on Tribal land had no internet access; 33% relied on cell phone service for the internet; and 39% had spotty or no connection to the internet at home on their smart phone. The ACP has enrolled 320,000 households on Tribal lands -- important progress. The largest percentage gains in broadband access are in rural areas. Nearly half of military families are enrolled in ACP, as are one in four African American and Latino households. Losing access and training on using computers and the internet will have devastating impacts on all these communities as technology becomes increasingly integral to work, education, health, and our everyday lives. Without moves to address tech inequality, low-income communities and communities of color are heading towards an “unemployment abyss.” The Affordable Connectivity Program has broad bipartisan support because it is working. As your constituent, I am urging you to push for renewed funding for the ACP before it runs out in the coming weeks.

▶ Created on April 11 by Jess Craven

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I live in a place that, because of its unique geography and less-than-stellar socioeconomic status, has the world’s shittiest internet.

Yes. In the year of our lord, 20 motherfucking 20, I pay an exorbitant amount of my hard earned cash for an internet connection that has the strength and functionality of Tommy Shelby’s conscience where women are concerned. Remember when he lied his ass off to Jessie Eden and even slept with her for political favors? That’s the vibe my DSL puts off,  

Do we have access to the internet? Sure. Imagine two rusted tin cans joined by a moldy piece of knotted yarn—that’s my internet connection.Imagine that it rains, the wind is blowing a little, it’s a full moon, a branch falls on a service line, the holler gets foggy, or a squirrel chews through the wires in a service box (true story). When any of this or many other seemingly unremarkable phenomena occur, I lose all connection I have with the outside world.It isn’t fucking fair.

Would I like to be involved in actively creating visually rich content of Tommy Shelby smoking cigarettes, drinking whiskey, fluttering his eyelashes, and clenching his razor sharp jaws? Hell yes! Alas, I can’t.

This is why when I update a fic I typically just post a link to my AO3. It’s not to drive traffic to my other blog, and it’s not because I am part of some nefarious plot to lure you over to another website. You don’t have to create an account to read my fic, to like it, or to even comment on it (not that I’m a big like/comment whore, because I’m like whatever) you can literally just click the link and read it...or not...the choice is yours. It is simply easier for me to post my work on their bare-bones site and then share it to tumblr.

So how am I reblogging the shit out of all of your content? I am using my cell when I can get a couple of bars. I live in an area that attracts people who I like to call “Boat Cunts”. When the weather is nice or we have a holiday weekend the cell tower on this end of the river is completely tapped out by instagramming, facebooking, tik-tokking twats who come to an area of unparalleled natural beauty only to experience the whole thing through the narcissistic lens of their social media. When they aren’t sucking the life out of my verizon (and spreading Covid-19 to my small community), I can do what I want on my phone.

While my main venture into a library will be for books, as previously stated they are also community centers and should me a resource to increase opportunity and equality of the local residents. A recent episode of Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj looked at another form of inequality, unequal access to the internet.

The internet had become an additional resource all residents in the U.S. and in other developed nations need to have in order to be a successful part of society. Further than the internet, more accurately it’s the instant access to the internet via smartphone but even if not instant the internet has replaced many telephone, mailing and older forms of communication and information access, especially when it comes to research, employment and getting assistance. And again, libraries were part of making up for these inequalities for those who cannot afford, understand or otherwise access the internet.