D.C.'s low-income households are routinely offered slower internet plans - Axios

A new investigation by The Markup reveals rampant disparities erstwhile it comes to net work for marginalized communities successful large U.S. cities, including D.C.

Driving the news: People successful lower-income, historically redlined neighborhoods are routinely paying the aforesaid terms for slower net work arsenic what residents successful higher-income areas wage for higher-speed internet, the investigation found.

Why it matters: Digital favoritism harms populations that already look systemic inequalities, peculiarly erstwhile it comes to accessing distant learning and occupation opportunities, Axios' Alayna Alvarez reports.

Zoom in: In D.C. — wherever The Markup analyzed net work by Verizon — astir doubly arsenic galore households successful low-income neighborhoods are offered slower net packages than those successful wealthier communities, the probe shows.

Thirty-two percent of lower-income neighborhoods successful D.C. were fixed dilatory net plans, compared to 13% of higher-income areas.

• Verizon did not respond to Axios' petition for comment.

Context: The FCC doesn't see the net a utility, similar telephone service, meaning it goes unregulated.

• As a result, broadband companies tin marque their ain decisions astir wherever they connection services and for however much.

Between the lines: Before the pandemic, 28% of D.C. households lacked entree to broadband net oregon a location computer, according to the D.C. Policy Center. This disparity was further highlighted by the emergence successful distant enactment and virtual learning during the pandemic.

The large picture: The Markup's findings uncover that 92% of the 38 large U.S. cities examined had disparities based connected income erstwhile it came to net service, and two-thirds had discrepancies based connected contention and ethnicity.

• Of the 22 cities with humanities redlining maps, net inequities showed up successful each of them.

What to watch: The FCC formed a task force this twelvemonth to draught policies to combat integer redlining and foster adjacent net access.

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