NEWS: So long, equitable internet

The US Supreme Court just overturned Chevron v. The Natural Resources Defense Council, a 40 year old precedent for how government works.

Read: Supreme Court just made it harder for federal agencies to regulate in sweeping ruling

6/28/24 via Nina Totenberg, NPR

This is big news for anyone interested in the way technology (and Big Tech) shape public policy, and vice versa.

It comes just a day after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) took the next step in supporting WiFi hotspot lending in libraries. The FCC released draft rules for amending the E-Rate program, adding allowances similar to the bygone Emergency Connectivity Fund. Libraries would see support for a percentage of their hotspot costs, up to 90% in school districts with the highest Free & Reduced School Lunch Program eligibility.

This is a big deal!

Now that 1 in 10 US households is not connected to the internet, hotspot and device lending programs are critical lifelines for our most vulnerable community members.

We’ve been advocating for federal support for these services at reliable community anchor institutions since before the pandemic.

• Libraries cite cost as a leading concern as for why they do not have a hotspot lending program.
• Perhaps even more frustratingly, many libraries use grant funds to launch hotspot programs and then discover that the ongoing costs are unsustainable for their local budget, and they are forced to downsize or shutter a well-used resource.
• E-Rate has the benefit of being a (relatively) stable mechanism to support libraries in offering high quality internet to their patrons, and it has been since the 90s.
• Including hotspots as an eligible use of E-Rate funds is a logical update for the 21st century: it just makes sense.

We’re also still reeling from the FCC’s decision to reclassify broadband as a telecom service under Title II of the Communications Act (i.e. the decision to restore “Net Neutrality”).

• This is a fantastic outcome for our patrons; it means their internet service providers can no longer offer paid prioritization to some traffic and not all.
• The measure is meant to prevent discrimination against low-income users or simply casual internet users, and to prevent tech giants from making deals that guarantee higher speeds for their services instead of a competitors.
  • Imagine getting dropped from a work Zoom during high traffic hours because Netflix paid to ensure they are always connected to your TV…

Why does Chevron matter?

As ordained by our political system, Congress is supposed to set rules and regulations that protect our rights. (Think back to middle school civics.) In today’s world, no elected representative can be an expert on every topic where they are called to make a decision. That leads to the assumption in Chevron: where the laws enacted by Congress do not provide enough detail for specific regulatory decisions, agencies are empowered to clarify.

• Federal employees (and local public servants) provide critical subject expertise, which enables the law to be interpreted and implemented.

One example: Right to Repair.

If you drop an Apple iPhone and the screen breaks, you can’t just swap it with a screen from the same model. Apple has stuffed their products with serial numbers and sensors, all to block users from repairing their own $1k+ device. This ridiculous practice was totally legal – for a while.

Fortunately, enough consumers complained. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) pursued these issues, with lawsuits for warranties that are voided by repair, threats of action against exorbitant repair costs without other competitive choices, and broad impact across industries. Things aren’t perfect yet. You probably still can’t take your broken phone to a local corner store where a technician you know can fix it at an affordable price. But you can go to a “licensed Apple repair store,” where you’ll pay extra to cover the fees Apple charges the store for the privilege of repairing their faulty product.

Let’s be clear: this is not something Congress could realistically do. Take a look at the regulations the FTC has managed to establish. They are extremely technical, with precise instructions on what companies can and can’t do. It took a team of experts with in-depth knowledge of both the industry and the technology underpinning it to make these rules worth their ink.

We’re spending more and more of our money on internet connectivity and the devices that get us there. That means we rely on agency regulations to protect our privacy, our cybersecurity, our right to free and unbiased information—and, of course, our wallets.

So the question is, who will protect us? Apparently not our government agencies, the only ones with any sort of rein on large corporations.

Yet again, the public turns to libraries.

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When the nascent internet left university labs and hit the real world, public libraries are where millions “surfed the net” for their first time ever. When the IRS stopped offering paper forms and assumed every American resident had computers and skills to E-File their tax return, libraries bridged the gap. When schools shut down and classes went online in March 2020, minivans and bicycles showed up in library parking lots across the nation, camped out to use the free WiFi.

We’re already digital navigators, information literacy hubs, and trusted public institutions. Now there’s a chance we could become the only resource our patrons have for facing the digital world with high quality information, a healthy sense of skepticism, and the confidence to navigate it alone.

This isn’t a suggestion that libraries should volunteer to act as customer service representatives for Big Tech. We’re already the middleman on issues like signups for the now-defunct Affordable Connectivity Program and subsequent broken trust.

Instead, let’s focus on building skills.

We can incorporate current events into our digital literacy programming. It will help paint a bigger picture for our patrons. That means they understand more of the competing factors that widen this digital divide. Our patrons will still need to get online and navigate the information age, and that’s still our mission.

Because even if the internet gets a little more predatory, a little less reliable, a little bit worse…

We’re still on it, aren’t we?

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