WEBVTT - TechStuff Looks at the Digital Divide 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camra. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:08.840 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:14.680 text Stuff from houstuff works dot com. This podcast is 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:17.320 brought to you by Audible dot com, the Internet's leading 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:20.200 provider of audio books, with more than one hundred thousand 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:24.520 downloadable titles across all types of literature. For tex Stuff listeners, 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:27.440 Audible is offering a free audiobook to give you a 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:30.480 chance to try out their service. One audio book to 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:35.000 consider is The Singularity Is Near When Humans Transcend Biology 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:38.800 by Ray kirtzwil Churtswaile explores a future where man and 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:41.880 machine are one and the same. Text Stuff is fascinated 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:44.400 by the idea of singularity, and this is a great 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:47.560 book to learn more about it. The Singularity Is Near 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:52.360 When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray kirtzwild available from Audible. 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:55.440 To try Audible free to day and get a free 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:58.440 audiobook of your choice. Get to an Audible podcast dot 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:03.720 com slash tech Stuff. That's Audible podcast dot com slash 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:09.920 tech Stuff. Hello everyone, and welcome to tech Stuff. My 0:01:10.000 --> 0:01:11.800 name is Chris Poulette and I am an editor at 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:14.560 how stuff works dot com. Sitting across from me as 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:17.360 always a senior writer, Jonathan Strickland. It was the best 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:19.640 of times, it was the worst of times. It was 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.080 the age of wisdom. It was the age of foolishness. 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:24.520 It was the epic of belief. It was the epoch 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:27.840 of incredulity. It was the season of light. It was 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:30.559 the season of darkness. It was the spring of hope. 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:34.440 It was the winter of despair. And if you know 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:36.679 where the dickens he came up with that one, let 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:42.479 us know the way to go. It ain't Shakespeare, it isn't. Today. 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:46.200 We wanted to talk about a subject that was a 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:49.880 suggestion from one of our sister podcasts, Yes Indeed Stuff 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:52.760 Mom never told you we gotta We got a tweet 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:56.240 from Sminty and Sminty said, hey, maybe you guys should 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:58.680 do a podcast about this, and it was about a 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:03.040 digital divide, a new kind of digital divide, and really 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:05.160 to talk about what this is, I think we need 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:06.840 to go back a bit and just sort of talk 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:10.400 about the concept of the digital divide to begin with, 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:13.320 to explain like what the idea that the historical idea 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:16.280 of the digital divide versus what we currently are looking 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:21.640 at now. Yeah, yeah, this goes back quite some time. Um, 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:26.239 you know, at least to the sixteenth century. No, I'm kidding, UM, 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:29.120 and it's really not nothing to get about frankly. Um, 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:33.800 Basically we're talking about access to electronic tools, probably most 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:38.360 specifically used in my experience reading about it in educational terms, 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:44.160 whether people have access to electronic uh devices most again, 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:48.360 most usually computers for educational purposes. UM. I think in 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:52.760 the last few years it's grown to include, um, the Internet, 0:02:53.240 --> 0:02:55.520 Internet access as well, and that that sort of ties 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:57.440 into a theme that we've mentioned a couple of times 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:00.600 recently because people have been talking about why their access 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:05.520 to the Internet is right or privilege. Um. But yeah, 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:08.120 the digital divide, when you hear people talk about it, 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:11.600 it's basically saying, uh, there are people who are halves 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:15.920 and who are have not in terms of computer access 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:19.440 to computers for educational purposes. Right. Craig Warren Smith, who 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:23.000 is the founder of the Digital Divide Institute, defines it 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:25.600 this way. Says that it refers to the gap between 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:29.040 those who can benefit from digital technology and those who cannot. 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:33.600 And that's important because benefiting from technology is different from 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:36.040 having access to it. That's true because you can have 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:38.840 access to technology and see no benefit from it. And 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:41.840 in fact, at the Digital Divide Institute, he goes on 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:47.520 further to express some concerns about how throwing technology at 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:51.400 people is not a solution to bridging the digital divide, 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:55.000 because if it has no application in that person's life, 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:57.840 there's going to be no benefit from that technology. And 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:01.640 in fact, depending upon how that technology is used by 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:04.480 the person who receives it, it could end up harming 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:07.920 that population rather than helping it. And here's an example 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:10.400 that he gives. He says, all right, imagine that you 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:16.360 go into a very poor community in UH, perhaps in 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:20.880 a developing country, like a developing world country. So you 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:23.000 go into this country and you go to this poor 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:27.480 community where they have very little infrastructure, very little access 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:31.279 to technology, and then you do this whole low price 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:35.839 laptop per child UH initiative, and you give all the 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:39.360 kids laptops, but they don't really have the infrastructure there, 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:42.240 and the laptops themselves, even though the laptops were designed 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:45.520 to be low cost items, most of the things that 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:49.960 we access through our our computers tend to be targeted 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:56.320 towards a fairly affluent demographic. I mean, it's it's well, 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:58.159 there's no way of getting around it. The stuff on 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:00.360 the Internet that we tend to go and look at 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:04.400 seems to be geared towards people who have money to spend, 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:07.119 and it's just that it's the way the business works 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:09.479 because it's not just a it's not like it's a 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:13.719 public entity. It's this collection of private entities and public 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:18.720 entities altogether. Right, So if you give these kids these laptops, 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:22.440 it may turn out that they cannot use the laptops 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:24.919 for what we would hope they would use them for, 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:27.240 because they just don't have the infrastructure there, they don't 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:30.000 have the education there. So instead they start playing violent 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:33.080 video games, and that's what they end up getting. It. 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:36.760 They really enjoy playing the games. It's great escapism for them, 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:39.120 but it takes away the time that they could have 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:44.240 been using towards education and empowerment and instead have them 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:49.200 focusing on entertainment, which, if taken to extremes, could end 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:51.760 up hurting them. Not that the violent video games themselves 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:53.520 are going to cause the kids to be violent, but 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:59.560 that their focus has been taken away from from well 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:02.359 in powerment. That's that's the best phrase to use. Really, 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:05.719 So what you're saying is, uh, well, games could be 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:10.159 useful in balance as far as in terms of entertainment. Um, 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:13.240 they could also be taking the place of the intended 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:17.400 purpose of providing these kids with technology, which is education. 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:19.680 Right if they're if they're the rest of the infrastructure 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:22.160 is not there and the and the education is not there, 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:27.760 then there may not be any uh any any ability 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:29.760 for the kid, Like even if the kid wanted to 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:35.600 use their their laptop two research something or learn about something, 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:37.600 if the rest of the infrastructure is not there, they 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:40.080 may not be able to do that. So that that 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:43.400 was the kind of example that Craig Warren Smith was 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:47.760 giving in his on his website. Now. Um, but there 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:51.600 is still also a much simpler way of looking at 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:53.880 the digital divide, which is just saying people who have 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:56.840 access in people who don't. I mean there, that's it's 0:06:56.880 --> 0:06:59.680 a very clear divide there. So we're talking here things 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:02.880 like ideas like broadband penetration, and we've talked about this 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:04.960 in the podcast in the past as well. I believe 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:07.800 I could. I was actually trying to find the the episode. 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:09.720 I know it's one of our older ones, but I 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:12.200 remember we specifically we're talking about some of the countries 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:17.000 that have the best broadband penetration versus others, and the 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:21.239 United States tends to be in the teens like usually 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:26.040 like sixteen or seventeenth place for broadband penetration. Pretty good, 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:29.480 but not the best. And for people who are from 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:31.840 the United States and who know that the Internet really 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:34.880 got its start here in the United States, it seems 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:37.720 a little unusual to think that the U s would 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:41.280 be so comparatively low if there if the country was 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:44.040 exactly you know, the place, the birthplace of the Internet. 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:46.880 But the the simple fact is the US is a 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:51.160 really big country and populations are spread very far apart. 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:55.080 So building out an infrastructure where you can have broadband 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:58.560 access across the board through the entire population is an 0:07:58.600 --> 0:08:04.200 incredibly challengeing uh task. We remember we mentioned in Canada 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:09.200 the broadband penetration. There the challenge. Even though Canada is 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:13.960 a big country, it's not it's not as difficult to 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:17.400 reach the majority of the population in Canada because most 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:20.720 of them live in the southern half of the country. 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:22.560 Now there are people who live in the northern half 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:24.840 of the country and a lot of them don't have broadband, 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:27.520 and it would be very challenging to get the broadband 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:30.120 to them. But because the majority of the populations in 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:32.160 the southern half, you would be able to hit the 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:35.599 majority of the population more easily than say, in the 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:39.280 United States, where you've got some pretty spread out communities, 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:43.280 especially in places out out west, so east of California, 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:47.040 but west of pretty much everywhere else. Um, so that 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:49.240 that is a real problem. And you were talking about 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:53.480 the just the the lack of access, uh. And then 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:55.960 once you get the access there, then you have other 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:58.400 issues that pop up. And that's kind of what leads 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:02.000 us into the uh the article that was said to 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:08.640 us from Sminty Well, Um, yeah, and the arguments that 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:12.920 you see, uh, you know, they're there a number of reasons. Um, 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:15.320 you know, it's it's not completely geographical, but that is 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:18.680 an important distinction because, um, yes, there are people who 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:23.160 simply cannot afford uh the electronic resources that would would 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:25.440 make it possible for them to get online. Right, So 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:30.520 they're economic barriers geographic barriers. There's also depending on I mean, 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:34.560 there's so many surveys out there that examine who has 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:38.439 access to technology and what demographics they belong to. And 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:43.520 there are some interesting divides. Age can play a factor, gender, race, 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:48.200 your education background, all this sort of stuff can can 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:54.280 play into the whole digital divide issue. And also, um, 0:09:54.400 --> 0:09:57.840 how you access the internet or how you know you 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:00.800 even if you have access, how you access it can 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:03.960 play a big part. So, uh yeah, it's a very 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:08.080 complicated issue. And if you are ever interested in in 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:11.040 testing this sort of stuff, like doing surveys and trying 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:14.520 to figure out, you know, where does this digital divide 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:18.280 really stem from, it's incredibly challenging because you have to 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:21.560 control for so many different variables that to test a 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:25.720 specific variable is very very difficult. Now is it is 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:28.240 it the person's age that plays more of a role 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:31.120 in this particular case, or is it their race or 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:33.600 their gender? I mean all these sort of things. You know, 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:35.760 you have to you have to do lots and lots 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:38.720 of different studies to kind of whittle this down. And 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:42.040 even then you wouldn't necessarily find a cause. You might 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:46.760 just be able to identify general trends and that that 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:49.760 can give you a useful information, but ultimately it may 0:10:49.800 --> 0:10:53.360 not give you the solution, right, It just tells you. 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:55.640 It gives you more information about what's happening, But doesn't 0:10:55.640 --> 0:11:00.240 necessarily give you a way of solving the problem. Right. Um, 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:03.440 one thing that has gone there there's many things that 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:06.920 are are factors in reducing the digital divide. Um. I 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:11.040 think after it was first identified, and I would argue 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:14.640 probably about the mid ninety nineties, actually there was a 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:17.960 big deal in some of the political discussions, especially in 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:20.959 the mid to late nineties, so much so that there 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:25.040 were some I actually have read articles that came out 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:31.640 in opposition to the rhetoric saying that the arguments about 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:35.160 the digital divide were kind of overblown and that more 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:40.040 people had access than what was commonly believed, and that 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:44.200 the divide was, although present, not as as big a 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:47.120 deal as was being made in the political arena in 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:51.160 the late nineties. Um. Yeah, the probably the price of 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:56.960 computers has dropped significantly since. Uh, the the arguments have 0:11:57.080 --> 0:12:00.800 been were first poised to the to the group actually 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:06.920 meant posed, but we'll skip that. Um. Um. So yeah, 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:09.480 I mean there are things that have gone that are 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:15.079 they're helping somewhat. Um. You know that that's one of them. Um. 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:20.440 You know. Another is that computers are penetrating more places 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:23.640 where people can use them. They're more common in schools. Now, Um, 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:25.800 they're certainly more common in public libraries here in the 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:30.040 United States. Um, that doesn't solve the digital divide, but 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:34.520 it helps somewhat and another another venue for the Internet, 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:37.800 and that actually plays into the article that that Sminty 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:42.360 sent us was, uh, the the availability of uh the 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:46.280 Internet via smartphones and other portable devices, which of course 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:49.120 we've talked about many times here on tech stuff because 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:54.880 uh mobile computing of all kinds uh tablets, UM, smartphones 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:57.400 and all sorts of other devices, you know, mobile cards 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:00.960 for your laptop. Uh. That's it's become very very popular 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:04.640 in the last few years. And that's where um, people 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:07.600 who are who may not be able to afford computers, 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:09.760 they might be able to afford a smartphone here in 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:14.320 the United States through deep discounts on on fountains. When 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:17.240 a carrier will offer make an offer special offer, right 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:19.080 you you sign up for a two year deal and 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:21.640 then you get your phone for you know, fifty bucks 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:25.199 or maybe even free, depending on the I mean the 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:27.600 phone I have right in front of me, I got 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:31.320 on a special day where I renewed my contract and 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:34.800 I got the phone for free. So yeah, I mean 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:40.319 it's it's at least the initial cost of purchasing it 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:43.760 is lower. Ultimately, if you go through the life of 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:48.400 a computer, um, and it's and and you know you've 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:52.400 got a decent carrier. There's there's a lot of I 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:54.320 s p s out there, right, I mean there's there's 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:55.880 big they're big i sp s, and there are a 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:59.600 lot of smaller ones where in some markets you've got 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:02.200 at least a little bit of choice, not not as 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:05.920 much as I would like. And there I have lived 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:08.400 in markets where really there was no choice. You know, 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:12.400 you either had UM either well neither y Max, or 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:15.640 you had you had a specific cable company depending on 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:19.440 where you were in the in the area. Right. But 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:21.840 but if you can shop around, you might be able 0:14:21.880 --> 0:14:27.520 to find a data plan for through a cable company 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:30.640 or through Ymax or what or LTE or whatever that 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:36.240 ends up being UM less than a full cell plan 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:40.200 on a smartphone. Uh So, it all depends on if 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:42.160 you're looking at the lifetime of the device or the 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:45.640 initial purchase price. But it's it's impossible to deny I 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:48.280 mean initial purchase price. The smartphone is the way to 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:52.080 go if you're on the budget, because they are less 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:55.160 expensive and they're often subsidized, so it makes it even 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:57.320 you know, might even be free once you sign a 0:14:57.320 --> 0:15:03.560 way the two years that you'll be stuck with that phone. Um, 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:06.120 and that's yeah. So let's let's talk about this article 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:08.920 that was sent to us. So it's called how Big 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:13.120 Telecom used smartphones to create a new Digital Divide, and 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:17.160 it was published on color lines dot com. And uh, 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:20.480 it's an interesting article. Um, I think I think first 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:23.680 of all, Uh, Chris and I both feel a little 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:27.840 uneasy about the the headline because the way the headline, 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:30.840 to me, perhaps I shouldn't speak for you, Chris, I'm 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:33.800 a little uneasy about the headline. The headline says, you know, 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:37.480 how big telecom used smartphones to create a new digital divide. 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:41.480 To me, that implies there was a motivation behind that, 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:44.960 like like that was the purpose of the They purposefully 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:49.000 tried to create a new digital divide. I'm not I'm 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:51.480 not willing to go so far as to suggest that. 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:54.240 I would say that what the telecom companies have done 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:59.120 has created a new digital divide, But that wasn't necessarily 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:03.040 the intent. It's just that there's there's no reason for 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:06.360 them not to do it. Yeah, it's it's from their perspective, 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:12.880 I should say, right, right, Um, the author Jamala King. Um, basically, 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:15.760 you know, through the through the article. I think the 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:19.280 article was was fairly well written, very well written, very 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:22.680 well researched. Yes, I agree with that completely. Um, I 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:26.080 think basically, uh yeah, I mean the thing to note is, 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:28.920 I think it's not that the companies are acting personally. 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:32.280 I think that they're acting completely impersonally. Yeah, it's a 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:36.320 it's an amoral approach, not an immoral approach, although some 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:39.160 of I'm sure if you were looking at this from 0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:41.040 a different perspective, you could say that some of the 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:45.360 actions that have been carried out have been immoral. Uh, 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:48.600 the intent behind it was amoral because it was really, 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:50.840 you know, this is the move this company needs to 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:53.400 make in order to make more profit. So it's not 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:57.440 like it's you know, it's it's not the wealthy tycoon 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:00.240 sitting behind the desk twirling his mustache and laughing, you know, 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:04.520 doing his maniacal laugh over and over. Let's talk about 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:07.160 what the article actually says and so so the listeners 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:10.440 who haven't read it yet might might understand. Um. One 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:12.800 of the points that King makes in the article is 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:17.120 that UH, in the United States, smartphone usage is up 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:21.680 among groups that are traditionally on UH for for some reasons, 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:26.120 mostly economic reasons. I would I would say, um are 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:28.720 maybe on the other side of the digital divide in 0:17:28.720 --> 0:17:33.440 this case, uh, the black and Hispanic populations. Yeah, so 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:38.280 among among blacks and Latinos, we're seeing smartphone rise. Smartphone 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:44.840 use rise much more rapidly to access the Internet via smartphone, yeah, 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:48.919 compared to the white population. So uh, it's not that 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:53.760 that that white folks aren't, you know, accessing the Internet 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:57.240 via smartphone. It's just that they still are accessing there. 0:17:57.440 --> 0:18:01.280 They tend to access it through broadband connects more frequently 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:05.760 than Blacks and Latinos do. Blacks and Latinos tend to 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:10.239 use mobile devices on mobile carriers more frequently than the 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:13.119 whites do. And the reason why this is a digital 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:17.679 divide issue is because the if you are on a 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:21.160 broadband I s P, that I s P is governed 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:23.639 by certain regulations set up by the f c C 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:27.160 about net neutrality. And if you've heard us talk about 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:29.320 net neutrality before, you kind of have an idea about this. 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:32.520 But in general, the idea behind net neutrality is that 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:37.359 person who accesses the Internet should have an expectation that 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:41.400 they are able to access everything that's on the Internet, 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:43.199 just as if they were on any other I s 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:45.639 p They shouldn't have a different experience if they're on 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:47.560 I s P A than they would if they were 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:49.960 on I s p B, apart from you know, the 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:54.040 regular differences of how fast that that particular infrastructure is. 0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:57.080 But I s p A would not be able to 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:02.639 block certain sites that belong to some other company or 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:07.160 throttle traffic to certain sites just to discourage people from 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:09.879 going to one set instead of another set. You know, 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:12.960 none of that is supposed to happen. So let's say 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:15.160 that I'm on I s P A and I want 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:17.720 to access how stuff Works dot com. But how stuff 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:21.240 Works dot Com for some reason, has been targeted by 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:22.960 I s p A as saying, you know what, I 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:25.280 would much rather if they went to this other website. 0:19:25.320 --> 0:19:26.960 So what I'm gonna do is I'm going to put 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:30.639 an artificial barrier in the way so that anytime you 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:32.960 try to go to how stuff works dot Com, you 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:36.000 just it just loads, takes forever to load. I mean, 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:38.960 it's even on the fastest connection. For some reason, but 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:41.720 if you go to this other website which is helpfully 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:44.600 linked to on your I S P S homepage, it's 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:48.160 blazing fast. That would be a problem, and that's something 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:50.600 the FCC says, no, no, no, you cannot do that. 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:55.040 So if you are accessing the Internet through a broadband connection, 0:19:55.520 --> 0:20:00.280 then you are at least in theory, having an unfilled 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:04.359 for the most part experience. It's not that case with 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:10.360 mobile devices because when those regulations were finally decided upon 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:14.200 in this took years and years to put together and 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:17.760 put into action, But when they were finally put into place, 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:24.680 mobile was conspicuously absent from that, in fact, to the 0:20:24.720 --> 0:20:28.280 point where there were there were even some mentions about 0:20:28.320 --> 0:20:31.480 that whenever when the regulations went up about how the 0:20:31.520 --> 0:20:34.639 mobile companies had argued that this sort of approach would 0:20:34.680 --> 0:20:39.280 hamper hamper them, it would hinder their ability to do business, 0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:42.560 and therefore they should not be put to the same 0:20:44.119 --> 0:20:49.440 standards as broadband and part of these uh as talking 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:55.320 about the the broadband ones and information based approach, and 0:20:55.440 --> 0:20:59.760 mobile is supposedly a communications based approach, one that means 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:02.719 own at the very you know, into the line, if 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:04.840 you want to just cut to the chase is that 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:09.720 the mobile companies can can mess with you. I mean 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:16.040 if they there's nothing, there's no regulation that says they cannot. Uh, 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:19.159 inspired you encourage you to go to one set of 0:21:19.200 --> 0:21:22.960 sights versus another, or even block content. Uh. There was 0:21:23.119 --> 0:21:26.880 a mention within the article that we read that there 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:30.920 was a case where a carrier did block text messages 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:36.439 from one company out to customers across it's it's a 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:40.240 customer base. It blocked those messages, saying that that was 0:21:41.080 --> 0:21:45.520 the company had a stance against this controversial topic, meaning 0:21:45.600 --> 0:21:47.920 that the customers themselves had no say in it. They 0:21:48.040 --> 0:21:51.240 just didn't get the messages. And so there are no 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:55.159 regulations that prevent that. You know, it's a private company censorship. 0:21:55.359 --> 0:21:59.000 Private company doesn't matter, it's not a government body, So 0:21:59.600 --> 0:22:02.360 they can they can do that, and since the regulations 0:22:02.600 --> 0:22:05.760 don't cover the mobile companies, there's nothing standing in the way. 0:22:05.800 --> 0:22:09.480 And this this is the basis or one of the 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:12.480 the I guess foundations for the argument about the new 0:22:12.520 --> 0:22:17.080 digital divide. If you have populations that are primarily accessing 0:22:17.080 --> 0:22:21.280 the Internet through mobile devices, and these carriers that that 0:22:21.440 --> 0:22:25.399 service these mobile devices are unregulated in any way, the 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:28.600 experience they have by definition, is going to be different 0:22:28.640 --> 0:22:32.720 from people who use broadband. Yeah, yeah, well that's yeah, 0:22:32.720 --> 0:22:34.760 I think that's that's really the point there. There are 0:22:34.760 --> 0:22:39.879 populations that are relying on smartphones to get access and 0:22:39.960 --> 0:22:43.200 because the companies are are un you know, are are 0:22:43.240 --> 0:22:45.360 free to do as they please as far as filtering 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:49.760 content and censoring content, then that u means that people 0:22:49.800 --> 0:22:54.240 who might be reliant on uh there these providers to 0:22:54.280 --> 0:22:57.840 get to the internet means that they are um unable 0:22:57.880 --> 0:23:02.800 to get access freely to that information and therefore, um 0:23:02.840 --> 0:23:06.240 they are hampered by by the way they are able 0:23:06.280 --> 0:23:10.119 to get online. So again, that's the the argument that 0:23:10.160 --> 0:23:13.800 we said at the beginning about how the digital digital divide. Man, 0:23:13.840 --> 0:23:17.040 I just can't say digital today the digital divide. Thank goodness, 0:23:17.080 --> 0:23:19.119 we pick this is our topic that that it's the 0:23:19.200 --> 0:23:22.240 benefit of technology that creates the divide, not just the 0:23:22.280 --> 0:23:24.800 access to it. Because again you could say, well, look, 0:23:24.840 --> 0:23:27.840 I mean that smartphones are everywhere, look how popular they are. 0:23:27.880 --> 0:23:32.600 So yeah, but if you if you cannot access all 0:23:32.640 --> 0:23:35.199 the information, then there is a divide there. That's kind 0:23:35.200 --> 0:23:41.760 of the definition. It's It's funny because in talking this through, um, 0:23:41.920 --> 0:23:45.280 I would argue that maybe our initial criticism of the 0:23:45.280 --> 0:23:48.880 headline might be softened a bit because the carriers are 0:23:48.960 --> 0:23:51.400 in fact doing that part of it on purpose. They're 0:23:51.440 --> 0:23:54.000 not creating the digital divide on purpose, but they are 0:23:54.040 --> 0:23:58.199