Even in the age of seemingly ubiquitous Internet access in the U.S. there remains a persistent gap between those who can and cannot afford access to Internet connections and associated hardware. Known as the "digital divide," the FCC has a new plan to tackle the problem, and the vote on that plan is coming up soon.
What will the candidates for president do about technology and media issues that affect Latinos? That's the question the National Hispanic Media Coalition is now pressing.
The FCC is proposing a big fine against four interrelated telecoms that have been accused of "slamming" and "cramming" their customers, reportedly targeting Latinos with the scam techniques
A new study from the Joan Ganz Cooney center, an independence research lab that focuses on modern challenges to children's education, has revealed that of all low-income families, Latino immigrant families are more likely to be under-connected or not connected to the Internet at all. More broadly, the problem of being under-connected still faces many families on the other side of the digital divide.
The digital divide -- the persistent gap between those who have affordable access to information technology and those who do not -- is among the many issues that the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) believes is holding Latinos in the U.S. back.
As Congress is rounding out its session for 2015, all signs point to a bipartisan agreement in both houses to permanently prevent state and local taxes on Internet service.
Latinos have been the leading edge in adoption of mobile technology and smartphones in the U.S. since the beginning of the trend. Now Hispanics outside of the U.S. may take the reigns, as a boom in Latin America's mobile market is taking shape.
Latinos are still over-indexing as a digital entertainment audience above other ethnic demographics and above the general population as a whole. But the study also shows the gap between leading digital Latinos, and everyone else, is starting to close.
On Monday, Apple CEO spoke to Good Morning America about the company's role connecting "99 percent" of students to 21st century technologies in the classroom. "I think technology has to be a key part" of public education, he said. "That's why we're here."
Latinos and black millennials are technologically connected and consume social media and news content at similar levels to their White counterparts and the national average, according to a new poll by the American Press Institute and The Associated Press.
The Obama administration has taken several steps in the past few months to expand high-speed Internet connectivity to more low-income Americans, including many Latinos, who remain on the inauspicious side of the "digital divide."
On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to consider a plan that would modernize Lifeline -- a long-running FCC program that provides subsidies for phone service to underprivileged households -- to include broadband internet.
Comcast has relinquished its bid to buy Time Warner Cable, dropping a proposed merger deal between the two largest cable companies in the U.S. estimated at about $45 billion.
Latinos, especially upwardly mobile millennials, have been shown by many studies to be "ahead of the digital curve" when it comes to being tuned into cutting edge digital media, as well as smartphone ownership and useage. In fact, Latinos own smartphones at a rate that's almost 10 percent higher than the U.S. national average, as we previously reported.
On Thursday morning, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted on a new Open Internet policy, grounded by strong federal authority that treats Internet service providers similarly to utilities. Adoption of the new rules -- which prevent ISPs from blocking or slowing any lawful Internet traffic or charging companies like Netflix for faster delivery -- is considered a victory for Net Neutrality advocates.
Often the Digital Divide -- the gulf between those online and those who don't or can't access the Internet -- is described as one of the challenges affecting Latinos in the U.S. But everyone knows that demographic terms are broad and inexact, and that's especially true with the word "Latino," which is a catchall word for the most diverse and quickly-growing demographic in the U.S.
In a February 24th opinion piece, Jose Marquez, the President and CEO of Latinos in Information Sciences and Technology Association (LISTA), opined that Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposed Open Internet rules that would prevent blocking, throttling, and paid fast lanes online would, inexplicably, harm Latinos. The FCC is set to vote on these rules on February 26th.
This week FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler announced plans to increase funding for E-Rate, a federal program that helps connect schools and libraries in neighborhoods in need to the Internet.
