"Is Google Making the Digital Divide Worse?"

Image courtesy of http://www.forbes.com/sites/cherylsnappconner/2013/09/19/why-even-being-near-a-google-fiber-city-is-good/

This is the title of Michael Brick's thought-provoking article published in Newsweek in February of 2014.  Despite its claims to spread Internet access to everyone far and wide and thus make it essentially a human right, Google just might be exacerbating preexisting social inequality.  Google Fiber, purported to be a savior by bringing information to users at lightning fast rates, and thus bringing jobs, possibilities, public safety, etc., got off to a rocky start:

"When Google came to town in 2011, the company divided the two Kansas Citys spanning the Kansas-Missouri border into "fiber-hoods." To qualify for service, residents in each zone would need to hit a certain percentage (varying by population density) of $10 prepaid registrations. Registration took place online, payable with a credit card. When the deadline arrived in September 2012, the online map of fiber-hoods was largely divided by [racial and ethnic] lines." 

Kansas City's Google Fiber divide. Image courtesy of http://www.wired.com/2012/09/google-fiber-digital-divide/

Until Google figures out a way to include poorer areas in its connectivity plans, it seems that cities fortunate enough to receive a Google Fiber installation will continue to isolate those historically less fortunate.  Brick's concern is that as the U.S. expands its high-speed connectivity, it faces the very real possibility of not just ignoring the less fortunate but creating and maintaining a permanent underclass.

Source:

Michael Brick, "Is Google Making the Digital Divide Worse?",http://www.newsweek.com/2014/02/21/google-making-digital-divide-worse-245546.html