The
Pro-Public Policy Position
Pro-public
policy positions are poorly represented in the arguments presented by the
free market advocates throughout the volume. One chapter, for example, entitled "Information Gaps: Myth or Reality?" by Compaine, originally published in 1986, easily sets up the "straw man" for his free-market argument. Compaine quotes single lines from several public policy advocates from the 1970s and 1980s. Not only are these sources dated even by 1986 standards, the quotes are yanked out of context, making them sound especially quixotic and quaint. In fact, only one section of the four that comprise the collection (see
Table of Contents) is devoted to "the other
side" of the debate, and then only one piece in that section is substantial,
directly confronting the issue in the same terms as the free market folk.
Why is government intervention in free market enterprise necessary? The
short answer: without intervention, the buildout of the information infrastructure
will be driven by the market for high-end users. Mark Cooper and
Gene Kimmelman in "The Digital Divide Confronts the Telecommunications
Act of 1996" give adequate critique of the act and its consequences:
-
instead
of stimulating competition, the act has spurred the "urge to merge" (p. 201) rather
than the need to compete;
-
instead
of declines in prices, these mergers have resulted in sharp increases in
cable and in-state rates;
-
instead
of rapid deployment and increased private-sector involvement, the act has
widened the gap between those who use lots of telecommunications
services and those who don't, largely through the practice of "bundling": "The industry has increased the basic-service bundles, requiring consumers
to buy more and more channels of less and less value. While basic-service
rates have skyrocketed, premium-service prices have been stable. Those
with discretionary income are spared, while the customers of the most popular
bundled programming are whacked" (p. 205). Furthermore, "This pricing pattern contributes
to a world in which intensive telecom users are winners—the haves—and modest
telecom users pay higher bills—the have-nots" (p. 210).
While the computer-and-writing community generally stand firmly in favor of pro-public policy intervention to insure all citizens or at least all schools have Internet access, the business realities that attend such a policy generally lay outside the field. Still, those looking for a fuller examination of why Internet access is important–and why a
technological critical literacy is even more important–should consult Cynthia Selfe, Technology and Literacy in the Twenty-First Century: The Importance of Paying Attention, published by Southern Illinois University Press, 1999. For a shorter, earlier version, see Selfe's "Theorizing E-mail for the Practice, Instruction, and Study of LIteracy" in Electronic Literacies in the Workplace: Technologies of Writing, edited by Patricia Sullivan and Jennie Dautermann, published by NCTE, 1996. pp. 255-293.
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