The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to expand the Lifeline program—which currently subsidizes phone plans for many low-income Americans—to include broadband Internet access.
“We’re fundamentally changing the discussion about tech and diversity,” digitalundivided founder Kathryn Finney said when she announced the new center at South by Southwest this weekend.
“It’s not enough just to focus on what’s the cool next thing. Part of what we have to do is to figure out how do we use and harness the cool next thing to make sure that everybody in this country has opportunity.”
Smartphone users now outnumber users of more basic mobile phones within the national adult population, according to a Pew Internet & American Life Project.
The FCC is launching a new pilot program this year to make broadband more affordable. Quiet as it’s kept, this isn’t the commission’s first effort, but civil rights groups say it can’t be anywhere near the last.
