Advancing Justice | AAJC Endorses JACL Comments

As the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) discussed in their Digital Discrimination comments, small businesses in San Francisco’s Japantown experience an economic disadvantage compared to surrounding businesses because the businesses in Japantown “are limited to copper lines with a maximum capacity of 100 megabits/second”. While these service gaps are potentially the result of differing market demand across different communities and not necessarily the product of blatant discriminatory intent, they still mean marginalized communities like Japantown are left without access to high-quality reliable broadband. Communities are harmed regardless of intent; consideration of disparate impact can serve as a useful bellwether for the need for further government scrutiny or added context from ISPs to ensure digital equity.