Is Google Making the Digital Divide Worse?

theodp writes "As Google Fiber forges ahead into new metro areas, Michael Brick reports on worries the fiber project will create a permanent underclass. Building the next generation of information economy infrastructure around current demand, experts say, will deny poor people the physical wiring needed to gain access while the privileged digerati advance at hyperspeed. 'The fiber service deployment means multiplicity of the digital divide, multidimensionality of the digital divide,' says Eun-A Park of the Univ. of New Haven. 'You can see it in Google's trial in Kansas City.' Speed matters, explains Google, 'because a world with universal access and 100 times faster internet could mean 100 times the learning.' Without universal access, as is the case in KC due to pricing that's out of the reach of many of the city's poor, one presumes the outcome could be 100x the learning divide. Another case of the unintended consequences of good intentions?"

Comcast or Verizon?

[0xdeadbeef]

Who is paying this shill?

Don't Hold Everyone Else Back

[locopuyo]

Assuming Google fiber will force the competition to lower prices or increase their own bandwidth this is a simplified example of what is happening.

Would you rather have:
Google Fiber allowed: 50% of people have 1000 Mbit internet and 50% of people have 10 Mbit internet
or
Google Fiber is not allowed: 50% of people have 20 Mbit internet and 50% of people have 5 Mbit internet

Forcing equality often just means lowering the standards of living for everyone. Even for people at the bottom.

Re:This is the most retarded astroturf post ever

[rwa2]

Amen to that. If you look at the Google Fiber Cities plan at https://fiber.google.com/newci... [google.com] , you can more or less see that Google Fiber is trying to avoid population centers where the internet is already well developed (DC-NYC-BOS corridor, LA, Chicago, Seattle, Houston) and primarily concentrating in "up-n-coming" low-cost southern tech centers, which already typically get lower marks for education.

So if anything, Google Fiber appears to be trying to bring the poors up rather than help the richers widen the gap.

But Time Warner says speed doesn't matter

[bobstreo]

http://www.wired.com/wiredente... [wired.com]

And Google Fiber is already having positive effects on their cable competition:

http://consumerist.com/2013/01... [consumerist.com]

http://www.pcworld.com/article... [pcworld.com]

Re:Doubtful.

[silas_moeckel]

It's worse than that they could pay $25 a month for 12 months to cover the install cost, and get free internet from then on.