Focusing on the issues that matter

Each year, the Multicultural Media, Telecom, and Internet Council (formerly known as the Minority Media and Telecom Council, but forever known as MMTC) convenes a Summit to explore the myriad ways of ensuring that minority communities have equal opportunity to harness the transformative power of new technologies like broadband. The common thread across every panel discussion, keynote address, and informal dialogue among attendees is how to use these digital tools to bolster social justice and affect real change. MMTC’s standing as a longtime leader and respected voice on these issues has positioned it as a unique convener of these kinds of multifaceted discussions, which are vital to ensuring that the interests and needs of minorities are represented and accounted for during the innumerable policymaking efforts being undertaken in Congress and at key agencies like the FCC.

As in years past, this year’s Summit brought together a who’s who of the civil rights, political, and high-tech arenas. Many of the remarks and discussions touched on, to some degree, the ongoing open Internet proceeding before the FCC. This is one of the most important issues that has ever faced the communication space; the resolution of this matter by the Commission is expected to upend the country’s broadband market. Among the many distinguished and thought-provoking talks on this issue – or any issue – one stood out for its frankness and its ability to tie these various issues – social justice, civil rights, broadband access, and the open Internet – together. It was given by Jim Cicconi, a senior executive at AT&T.  

{mosads}Cicconi is not a disinterested party in the open Internet debate. His company will be directly impacted by whatever rules the FCC issues next month. He acknowledged as much in his remarks, but he also made a critical point – that the efforts of companies like his, which deploy and operate the physical infrastructure of the Internet, are critical to realizing the core aims of civil rights groups like MMTC. Any rules that impede their ability to invest in these networks, he argued, will disrupt the incredible progress that has been made in bringing more Americans of color to the Internet. That progress can be measured in terms of the ready availability of a broadband connection in nearly every corner of the country; it can be measured by the fact that all consumers are getting more bang for their buck – faster speeds, more reliable connections, better content, cooler devices; and it can be measured in the steadily rising (but still lagging) adoption rates among Blacks, Hispanics, and low-income households.  

Implicit in this argument about the likely impacts of aggressive new open Internet rules is a recognition that the success and failure of a company like AT&T hinges on its relationship with customers. Its fortunes rise and fall on the services that it provides. Indeed, contrary to what some have argued, the success of these companies is not preordained – their ability to generate profits and increase their stock price is not automatic. Rather, their success, like the success of any company, stems directly from consumer engagement, from providing the services that customers demand. As such, the specter of aggressive new open Internet rules looms large over this space and has unsettled companies like AT&T, which collectively invest tens of billions of dollars each year in meeting that demand and providing every customer, regardless of race, sex, or income level, with equal access to the Internet.  

Such equality of opportunity is the very essence of social justice. The work of our forbearers in the Civil Rights movement sacrificed so much just to level the playing field for minorities. Decades later, we now have a communications platform that embodies these core values. Anybody can log on and prosper, provided that they have access to a connection and the skills needed to put that connection to productive use. Making it more difficult for service providers to invest in their offerings will begin to skew this level playing field because, inevitably, whatever negative consequences that arise will impact disadvantaged communities more profoundly than others.

The intensity of the open Internet debate, which tends to be dominated by sound bites and brinksmanship, makes it easy to overlook what FCC action will mean in practice. Events like the MMTC Summit are valuable because they shine a light on the issues that really matter and make clear that, when the rubber hits the road, decisions by entities like the FCC reverberate far beyond the Beltway in DC. And more often than not, certain communities feel the brunt of them. Ultimately, if we as a nation are serious about furthering, and not erasing, the many gains that have been made in the march toward social justice and equality of opportunity, then we must demand that policymakers do more than acquiesce to the demands of a very small but very vocal minority of advocates and instead focus on pressing on down the path that has already delivered so much to so many.

Burns is an associate at Krooth & Altman LLP, and a legal commentator and columnist.