Will Google Bring High Speed Internet to the Hood? Probably Not.
by Angela
Google announced yesterday that it plans to “experiment” and bring high speed fiber optic broadband access to select areas. 50,000 – 500,000 to be exact. The test will be in trial locations and it’s goals are to help inspire:
- Next generation apps: We want to see what developers and users can do with ultra high-speeds, whether it’s creating new bandwidth-intensive “killer apps” and services, or other uses we can’t yet imagine.
- New deployment techniques: We’ll test new ways to build fiber networks, and to help inform and support deployments elsewhere, we’ll share key lessons learned with the world.
- Openness and choice: We’ll operate an “open access” network, giving users the choice of multiple service providers. And consistent with our past advocacy, we’ll manage our network in an open, non-discriminatory and transparent way.
Google repeatedly mentions that they want to make internet access available for everyone and even urges anyone (the general public and local officials) to submit their city or town for consideration. My bet is that these test location won’t be in any inner cities where the probability of budding minority entrepreneurs can take advantage of such high speeds to build “killer apps.” And if this is the case, how can Google report findings on usage or deployments in a truly comprehensive way. Google says they are inclusive and I believe them most of the time (see my past article from nearly 2 years ago on their lack of diversity on campus). Google is the ultimate start-up success story of any internet entrepreneur, if they get into the ISP game they should allow that same opportunity to those who live in inner cities or areas that are highly populated with minorities.
Business Insider had an excellent take on Google getting into the ISP game for other reasons…a head fake to ISP’s to get them to ramp-up their infrastructure quickly and for their own benefit. Note: If you don’t read or subscribe to Business Insider you should, some excellent stuff there. Dan Frommer at Business Insider states:
This is a similar trick that Google pulled a few years ago in the FCC’s wireless spectrum auction. Google used its beloved branding to convince the FCC and wireless companies that it was considering becoming a wireless carrier. It used this momentum to push a Google-friendly agenda — including getting the FCC to force one of the spectrum auction winners to run an “open” network — without ever becoming a carrier or spending billions on spectrum licenses or wireless towers.
Instead, Verizon Wireless wound up spending big bucks on the spectrum Google forced “open” and will use it for its forthcoming 4G network. Consumers will love dialing up Google Maps on that 4G network, which will benefit “happy loser” Google — without Google having to become a wireless carrier.
Same trick here, in an ideal situation: Google makes noise about getting into the telecom business, telcos freak out and spend more money, fast networks get built either way, and Google wins.
As I sit back on the sidelines and watch all the bickering around net neutrality (child-like bickering at that) I have yet to read anyone’s take on how this new power move by Google will impact net neutrality. While Google claims to be open and to want submissions from everyone to participate in this really great experiment they are rolling out, the form alone for local officials to put their city in the running takes about 4 hours to complete. I’m no expert but it seems like the excessive amount of time needed to complete this form is perhaps to discourage people from submitting their cities thus letting Google test where they want to test, again likely not in minority communities. The form for citizens to complete is drastically shorter and should only take a few minuets however is eerily similar to a survey one would fill out on a given companies competitors. It’s a dirty game on the path to world domination.
Category: News | Tags: AT&T, broadband, business insider, comcast, FCC, fiber optic, google, National Broadband Plan, net neutrailty, telecom, verizonDid you like this article? Share It!
Mr.TramueL™ says:
I stopped half way through the “Rep yo city” for consideration. Realizing that it's not coming to my community.
Lesly Simmons says:
What is the responsibility of communities of color to participate in this process? I agree that the application process might be a deterrent, but at some point everyone needs to recognize that those kinds of tasks are required to get in the game. If its something that people think they can benefit from, then we should hold our elected officials responsible for submitting apps on our behalf if we can't do it ourselves. I submitted the personal form and sent information along to my ANC rep to do the same for our entire neighborhood.
Rather than settling for the fact that its not coming our way, we should push to see that it will. Four hours isn't nothing, but there are people in local government who's job it is to do things like this for a living, so lets get them on it.
Lauren DeLisa Coleman says:
This is a wonderful article. Thank you for writing it! This must and should be continue to be discussed. Time for mad pressure on Google!!!
mikeydigital says:
@Lesly – You made some very good points…
Look, it is the responsibility of our community to be informed about what's going on especially when it comes to broadband and the digital divide because it disportionately impacts us. Case and point: We (meaning the black digital natives) may know about Google's broadband experience, but I bet you the majority of people in our communities who need access to broadband the most (and the organizations that are in the communities to help them with access) know NOTHING about the experiment.
What Lesley did, in terms of submitted the personal form and sending information along to her ANC rep to do the same for her entire neighborhood is exactly what all of us should be doing. At Noire Digerati we're currently working on doing the same thing here in Chicago, but has anyone noticed 24 hours later the link to the application is broken?!
In terms of the application for cities and government officials taking 4 hours is unfortunately how the process works. The process to fill out the BTOP Broadband grants takes even longer.. I'm talking about days and weeks to get through (including those of us like myself who was responsible for reviewing them.. yo I'm talking about hundreds of pages)..
I actually have more faith that Google (over Verizon, AT&T, etc) will see to it that broadband is made available in urban communities, as long as WE do our part and get them the information that they need.
Seriously, regardless of the city you're in, please contact your city officials, church leaders, and Community Technology Centers (CTCs) and inform them of this opportunity so they can apply for the deadline.
If we do all of this and we still don't see high speed Internet in the Hood, then we cry foul, but right now it's to early to say.
Mike
Founder Noire Digerati & Digerati Labs
http://www.blackdigerati.org
Angela Benton says:
I submitted the personal form as well. In this article I don't think I EVER mentioned that Elected Officials shouldn't be held responsible for pushing this through, they should regardless of the time commitment. I'm questioning Google for making it so lengthy considering their overall business is about simplicity.
Even Google ventures puts a limit on what is submitted for funding:
http://www.google.com/ventures/contact.html
“If you would like your venture to be considered for funding, email is the best way to reach us. Please limit your presentation to no more than 20 slides or three type-written pages.”
Angela Benton says:
I agree Lauren! I think as Techies we all look-up to Google, I know I'd love to build a company to the level that they have however Silicon Valley is majority white. They build products largely for early adopters. And if they play the ISP game minorities should not be left out. If we look at their track record they have a history of leaving minorities, not saying they do this on purpose but they are based in the Valley and this is the world they come from. Most everyone on this site knows I am passionate about minority entrepreneurship on the internet, that said budding entrepreneurs located in communities that have sub-par internet access should have access to this program. Period. It will help make the internet a better place and truly represent all the opportunity that exists here. Hopefully one day we'll be able to work with minority communities in real life on how to build internet businesses and applications. Thx for your comment.
Lauren DeLisa Coleman says:
Thanks for your response. Well, I think until we have more of an actual movement, there will not be many changes on any digital front. My passion is mobile. I'd love to know what you think about this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7eGUgbvLN4
Angela Benton says:
This is great stuff we should talk!
Lauren DeLisa Coleman says:
Any time! I'm at 646775 2898>>>>
mikeydigital says:
@Lauren – I agree perhaps a movement is needed, however we have to individually start in the communities we live in to see the change spread viral.
This discussion we’re having is really serious from an access to broadband and skill level standpoint because the competition for jobs in general and more specifically jobs in the technology space (even those with minimal tech skills needed), is really tough. And the young people (our age) from Asia, India, Russia, Brazil (hell even Africa) aren't playing with us when it comes to these jobs. Either the jobs are being outsourced to them (I saw a lot of that when I was in Brazil), or they're coming to the U.S and taking them from us. Read up on Google's push last year to get the U.S government to increase the number of H1-B visas they receive so they could hire more foreign students.
Can we blame Google? I'm not sure anymore, because these foreign students I'm referencing just recently mopped the floor with Americas elite universities (e.g. MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, etc) in Asia at the ACM ICPC programming competition. The first 12 or 13 spots (in terms of winners) went to all international universities. You didn’t see an America university until around spots 14 and 36. Mike Founder Noire Digerati & Digerati Labs http://www.blackdigerati.org
Angela Benton says:
@lauren i got your number, I deleted so it won't be out in the open.
Lauren DeLisa Coleman says:
Feeling you Mike, but I will always believe that the responsibility should be shared by the corporate world. As they say, to whom much is given… I would love to know the company's policy on scholarships, particularly those pegged for increase of Black American engineers. I honestly believe there is a lot more Google and other tech companies can do in terms of helping to balance out the disparities particularly since they make so much from people of color as avid consumers (as I'm sure you already even know, all stats show Blacks and Latinos access broadband more than any other demo in this country from their mobile phone, just for example) so…. But yes, everyone has to do his/her part. I'd love to see more integrated (as in corporate-community) efforts.
markusrobinson says:
I doubt anyone who reads Black Web 2.0 is in the “hoods” that I believe that Angela's referring too in this post. Odds are, the “hoods” that need broadband the most aren't reading this article nor will they know about Google’s initiatives. The main reason is because they lack access to BROADBAND. It’s so easy to tell the community stand up…get involved… but how are they to get involved with something that they don’t know about? And how are they to fill out a form that they don’t have access too? And where do they find the time and know how to fill out this form appropriately?
Secondly, I cannot, for the life of me, understand why everyone thinks that Google is here to help. I volunteer in a community where the unemployment rate is nearly double that of the national average and the literacy rate is about half the national average. Do you honestly think that Google cares about them? If they did, this broadband initiative would be about putting more people online, not building better apps. The telecoms motives are clear, the more people that have broadband, the more money they make (no MBA need for that). Google on the other hand seems to be more interested in getting the people who are already online faster more robust apps and to help app builders build ad supported apps. Google could care less about broadband access for the poor.
mikeydigital says:
@Lauren – I agree the responsibility should be shared by the corporate world, but we also share some of the accountability as a community as well. We choose to consume more than we develop or own by chose, not always because greedy corporate companies are keeping us at arms length.
Google has (and is) doing a lot to balance out the disparities and Google co-founder Larry Page even alluded to the disparities when asked about them by Spelman College computer science professor Dr. Andrew Williams (check in iTunes U for The Research Channel: Andrew Williams' Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Speech.. in the speech he even talks about Steve Jobs asking him if he could help him get more black engineers at Apple). For example, Google partnered with HBCU's and the UNCF to offer scholarships. Google was at Howard University last week (I believe) holding a seminar about jobs, internships, etc.
But Google can't just increase black engineers and computer scientitsts for the sake of doing it. We have to be qualified, we have to be prepared and we have to be able to fit into their culture. I've heard this from Google reps directly as well as a recruiter from Microsoft. At the end of the day these Silicon Valley high-tech companies are looking to hire the best and the brightest and if you've been following the H1B visa debate (Bill Gates has been lobbying for increase H1Bs since 2006), you get insite into how a lot of these companies think.
“Google believes more H1B visas should be made available in order to lure the best foreign talent to work in the USA, arguing that overseas workers have shaped the IT industry.” Source: http://bit.ly/dk37Fr
Pretty much self explanatory.. that's how they feel whether we agree with them or not.
Mike
Founder, Noire Digerati & Digerati Labs
http://www.blackdigerati.org
anothercommenter says:
There is a movement. Be a digital justice champion for our communities today! http://centerformediajustice.org.
Guestz says:
Will Verizon bring FiOS to the Hood? Probably Not.
BSmart says:
Of course they would if the demand was there. But does the hood need FiOS? Lets get them on an affordable basic broadband plan first. k
Google Fiber: The Contest Begins « Black Web 2.0 says:
[...] for the brass ring. With the digital divide well documented on many publications, including this one, I’m curious to know how many cities with large minority communities applied. Did the news [...]