Broadband, Social Justice, and the Future of Universal Connectivity

A discussion about why universal access to affordable, robust broadband is a matter of social justice and necessary for a thriving democracy. That might seem obvious to many of you—how can one fully participate in our society, our economy, our education, health care and financial systems or our democracy without a broadband connection? But in my 35 years of working to ensure that every American household has affordable access to communications networks of all kinds, it has been a struggle to convince funders, policymakers, the press, and a broad range of civil society organizations that communications policy is anything more than highly technical economic policy that, while important, is a secondary issue that isn’t core to their goal of creating a just society. Less than 5 years ago, some policymakers and broadband industry representatives were arguing that Internet access was a luxury, not a necessity; one that was largely used for frivolous activities like video games and social media. They would argue that if one really needed Internet access, you could go to a library or work and your child could go to their school. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States.