Blog Essay: The Depth of the Digital Divide

Franny Valour

Blog Essay #1

3/29/15

The digital divide is a concept that has been discussed in my classes at American University, spoken of broadly as an injustice around the world. I found interest in a particular area of injustice within the digital divide, featured in a documentary about Aaron Swartz called The Internets Own Boy. The digital divide is the inequality between those who enjoy access to the internet and those who do not. Although the internet is young, it has gone through a rapid diffusion process, providing an enormous amount of resources to us in this day in age. While the capability of the internet expands inequality continues to increase, as internet users have access to a broad range of experiences, knowledge, and people.

           

As college students attending a private university we have access to a wide variety of academic resources. After viewing the documentary The Internets Own Boy, about Aaron Swartz, I realized my internet privilege. Swart was a co-founder of Reddit, and what many believed to be an internet prodigy. Swartz advocated for the internet’s role as a human right, leading the fight against SOPA and publishing documents such as his “Guerrilla Open Access Manifesto.” This manifesto states:

“Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves. The world’s entire scientific and cultural heritage, published over centuries in books and journals, is increasingly being digitized and locked up by a handful of private corporations.”

As a fellow at MIT Swartz was working on multiple different projects, one of which required him to download thousand of academic journals from JSOR. Raising red flags after the massive serge of downloads JSTOR brought this to the attention of the government when they pressed charges. Swartz then entered a high profile case against the U.S. government as they pursued him after charges was dropped by JSTOR. Swartz’s advocacy for informational equality on the internet was used to indicate malice although none of the articles downloaded were made public.

This case made me reflect on the hundreds of databases and informational outlets I have access to solely because I am a student at this university. For those who are as privileged, gaining access to this information is costly. Either by page, document, or yearly pass these information databases tend to be expensive. I believe this is unjust, as these databases neither created the content nor publish it in most cases. Collecting information has become a business. An example featured in The Internets Own Boy is the 10 billion dollar industry that has come from access to public records. Carl Malamud, founder of publicresources.org, found that these documenters were not only costly, but they were located on a site that was difficult to use. Indicating an additional dimension of the digital divide, which is the lack of knowledge surrounding how to use technology once access is granted. Swartz started working with Malamud to make these public files accessible at a young age, catching the attention of the FBI while he still lived in his parent’s home. Malamud states that,

“People without means can’t see the law as readily as people that have that golden American express card, it’s a poll tax on access to justice.”

I find this absolutely correct, how can we expect low income communities to better themselves and be successful, if they can’t even get access to research and scholarly works? The digital divide incorporates many different dimensions which need to be considered when determining how detrimental the end result can be.