Slate: FCC ruling gives poor students a leg up

Why net neutrality is about so much more than streaming video online. Article by Vikki S. Katz and Michael Levine for Slate In announcing the recent ruling on net neutrality, Federal Commications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler contended that the policy enshrines the idea “that no one—whether government or corporate—should control free open access to the Internet.” The new regulation settles—at least for the moment—a critical question about how the Internet works, by requiring service providers to be a neutral gateway rather than handling different types of Internet traffic in different ways—and at different costs. The two Republican commissioners who cast the dissenting votes said that the FCC was inappropriately interfering in commerce to solve a problem that doesn't exist—a charge that Republican legislators have vowed to carry forward by trying to roll back the FCC’s ruling.

Why net neutrality is about so much more than streaming video online.

Article by Vikki S. Katz and Michael Levine for Slate

In announcing the recent ruling on net neutrality, Federal Commications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler contended that the policy enshrines the idea “that no one—whether government or corporate—should control free open access to the Internet.” The new regulation settles—at least for the moment—a critical question about how the Internet works, by requiring service providers to be a neutral gateway rather than handling different types of Internet traffic in different ways—and at different costs. The two Republican commissioners who cast the dissenting votes said that the FCC was inappropriately interfering in commerce to solve a problem that doesn't exist—a charge that Republican legislators have vowed to carry forward by trying to roll back the FCC’s ruling.

As researchers studying the impact of digital media on children’s learning and development, we welcome the FCC’s action—and not just because it protects fair access to the world’s information. Those protections lay the groundwork for the success of efforts aimed at resolving inequalities that low-income U.S. families face when it comes to access to, and meaningful engagement with, broadband and digital technologies. Our research indicates that digital inequality remains a critical issue for low-income families with school-age children—and that resolving it has potential to solve real problems that do exist. However, policymakers and education reformers still have limited understandings of why and how technology investments can be a game changer for underserved students.

We recently completed a study focused on Latino families in three states, in an effort to understand how digital equity policies play out on the ground. We interviewed more than 300 parents and their school-age children who qualify for free or reduced-cost lunch and therefore for reduced-cost broadband access through a national digital-equity program. Our findings should help policymakers retool initiatives designed to address gaps in access to the Internet and Web-enabled technologies.

- Read more at Slate