I had to slap my head in disbelief at a few of the arguments made in yesterday's New York Times by Susan P. Crawford, law professor and former advisor to the Obama administration. In case you didn't see that article, the basic argument is that the lack of wired (or more accurately computer-based) broadband access would doom the disadvantaged to a life of unemployed carbon-emitting squalor, followed by a hasty death abetted by the inability to schedule a doctor's appointment.
OK, where to start. First of all, historians will one day view the advent of the internet as yet another blow to the unskilled or semi-skilled worker in America, to go along with foreign competition and trade, declining unionization, the decline in the real minimum wage, technological innovations that obviate the need for labor, etc. The internet destroys jobs. Tried applying for a job in a video store lately? Have you even seen a video store lately? How about a travel agency? Bookstore? To be fair, the internet creates jobs too, but you have to be pretty skilled to land one. Overall, the internet is inherently an inequality-exacerbating technological innovation.
So we have to start from that perspective. For the disadvantaged, the internet is a bus that just ran them over. So now the question is, wouldn't they be better off if we gave them a seat on that bus? I've written previously about the hazards of broadband access for kids, and won't rehash those here. Instead, let's go through Professor Crawford's arguments one by one. The inescapable conclusion: this is a bus to nowhere.
1. Without broadband, you can at best stream a movie on your smartphone, and that uses up most of your data allowance.
Absolutely true. And without a set of golf clubs, it is also hard to play a round at Pebble Beach.
2. Within a decade, it will be hard to schedule a doctor's visit except online.
Based on my interactions with the American health care system, I just don't see it happening. But suppose it's really true. The good news is that a huge proportion of the technologically illiterate will die before this happens. No, seriously -- it's the elderly who really have the most difficulty with new technology.
3. It's hard to take a virtual class, or get a college degree, from the comfort of your own home without broadband.
I'm sure that's true. But again, the good news is that we're talking about young people here, who are reliably savvy with tech stuff and increasingly hard to find in those sparsely populated areas with poor internet service. And the jury is still out as to whether one of those University-of-Phoenix-style virtual degrees gets you anything anyway.
4. You won't be able to monitor your energy usage or CO2 emissions.
I'm sure this is an issue that keeps many disadvantaged Americans awake at night.
5. Job applications and interviews will soon be conducted exclusively online.
If you're hiring a new assistant professor for your law school, I could really see this happening. But again, the greatest threat to the disadvantaged is not that they'll need the internet to get a job, but that the internet will destroy that job in the first place. For those un-outsourcable jobs, like serving food or cleaning up after people, the best candidates will always be those close by, and it's hard to envision your local Marriott holding interviews for cleaning staff via videoconference.
6. It's hard to start a business using only a smartphone.
That's probably one reason why most people who start businesses have more capital than the $0.00 it takes to acquire a smartphone.
7. It's hard to participate in a virtual business meeting using only a smartphone.
I would posit that most people who participate in virtual business meetings are either (a) self-employed entreprenuers or (b) employed. The entrepreneurs face the capital constraint thing. If the employed are working for a firm that can't afford a computer with wired internet, then they need to think about sending out resumes, which brings me to
8. It's hard to type up a resume using only a smartphone.
Fortunately, the smartphone can be used to call up the Craigslist website, where in virtually any city it should be possible to find a used computer and printer that together will set you back no more than a couple hundred bucks. Stationery sold separately. Oh, and if you're employed I've heard stories about people using the company's equipment to not only type up the resumes, but print them out or email them as well!
To close this off on a serious note, it is absolutely true that the market for broadband internet has some problems with insufficient competition. The textbook solution to lack-of-competition problems, however, does not involve government subsidy -- particularly for a service primarily geared to entertain us, not make us more productive.
