Breaching the Digital Divide - information technology accessibility - Brief Article - Column

Chief Executive, The, April, 2000 by Deroy Murdock

President Clinton looks more like a hyperactive duck than a lame one. Atop the 82 other federal programs he unveiled in his January 27 State of the Union address, the President announced plans to provide computers to low-income Americans. As Clinton declared, "we must close the digital divide between those who've got the tools and those who don't."

As he later explained, his $2.38 billion idea includes "1,000 community centers with computers serving the adults of America who otherwise would not have access to them." Clinton also rhapsodized about the Web's wonders. "I come from a small town in rural Arkansas," he said, "and I've got a cousin that plays chess once or twice a week with a guy in Australia. I mean, it's unbelievable."

This is all very touching, but--like so much else that Washington perpetrates--Clinton's scheme addresses a problem the free market is already solving.

One needn't marry a multi-millionaire to buy a PC. eMachines produces a 466 MHz desktop for $399. PeoplePC sells each customer a brand name computer, on-site service, unlimited Internet access and a home page for $24.95 per month over three years. You don't have $24.95? Visit one of Kinko's 1,005 stores in all 50 states. They rent Internet-connected PCs for 20 cents per minute. NetZero.Com and Tritium.Net are among the companies that offer free Web access.

As if they weren't cheap enough, major American corporations are giving away computer technology to the digital have-nots. Delta Airlines recently announced that it will hand a free computer to each of its 72,000 workers.

Ford Motor Company declared February 3 that it will furnish free, brand-new Hewlett-Packard computers and printers plus $5 per month UUNET web subscriptions to its domestic and overseas employees. Naturally, some systems will go to affluent executives. But many more will enter the modest homes of secretaries, security guards, and mail room clerks.

Ford's plan "is really about developing personal skills and making sure that every one of our employees is connected to the marketplace," Ford CEO Jac Nasser told PBS. "We feel that, if we can mobilize the hearts and minds and the technical capability of 370,000 people around the world then that has a power that is very difficult to match."

Microsoft has created 15 technology centers in cooperation with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. It has installed similar facilities at a Washington, D.C. housing project, a San Francisco Latino center and on a New Mexico Navajo reservation. "In charity, as at work, we ask a lot of our people," said Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. "Last year, they delivered incredibly well." Through corporate grants, individual gifts, and matching funds, Microsoft and its employees donated $25 million in cash and $79 million worth of software to the cyber-needy.

US West has provided more than $10 million in used computers to schools and non-profits since 1 997. The Denver-based Baby Bell also gives free, year-round technology training through its Widening Our World program. US West has sent 11 teams of University of Northern Colorado students and recent graduates on the road with mobile computer gear. Since 1 996, this effort has instructed more than 11 0,000 people at community centers, housing projects, and senior centers across the company's 14-state region.

This spring, Visa will launch an Internet-based program called "Practical Money Skills for Life!" While still in the works, Visa plans to grant computers and Internet access to poor high schools and collaborate with those already on-line. "People should learn how to manage their finances before they leave high school or get their first 'real job,'" said Senior VP Kelly Presta. Visa's joint web site with Edgate.com will include "lessons for teachers, information for students, and background for parents to help their children with these issues."

Bill Clinton arrives in cyberspace as a Johnny-come-needlessly. Beyond computers, Clinton's fellow politicians--and corporate leaders--must address the simple skills required to handle data systems. "Before we start talking about plunking $2 billion for Internet connectivity for inner-cities and redneck school districts, we better worry about the fact that the failure of basic education does not go well with the computer-based, highly unforgiving environment of the Internet," says Tom Lipscomb, president of the Manhattan-based Center for the Digital Future. "If you can't spell, you can't URL."

New York commentator Deroy Murdock is a senior fellow with the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in Fairfax, VA, and a media fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.