Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
– Martin Luther King
For some time, we (the legal profession) have collectively wrung our hands over the access to justice (A2J) problem in the US and elsewhere. But that’s about all we have done: despite all our consternation, there has been little real progress. And now that gap may be about to significantly widen.
Fundamentally, there simply can’t be much access to justice without access to the Internet. Indeed, there can’t be much access to the American dream at all without reliable internet access. Yet that access for millions of people who without assistance could not afford it is about to be cut off.
Last Friday, CNN reported that the FCC announced that the Affordable Connectivity Program, which provided financial assistance to low-income people to be online, was being terminated. This Program helped tens of millions afford internet service.
Why is the Program ending? No money. The ever vigilant Republicans in the House of Representatives, perhaps fearing that the impacted people were more likely to vote Democratic, refused to approve additional funding this spring. Their attitude was summed up by Sen. Ted Cruz as quoted in BroadBand Breakfast: we should “not…impose higher taxes on millions of hard-working Americans to cover the internet bills of their neighbors who are already willing and able to pay for it themselves.” Like many proclamations of this ilk, this one comes with scant proof that the ACP was being abused.
This refusal led the FCC, which managed the Program, to announce termination last Friday.
CNN has previously reported that this termination will affect nearly 60 million people. That’s one in five Americans. The Program provided a monthly credit on Internet bills to those eligible, worth up to $75 per month, and as much as $75 per month to
