Office of Consumer Counsel
PUF’s Steve Mitnick: The Office of Consumer Counsel has several responsibilities, including broadband access. Let’s talk about broadband first.
Elin Katz: One of my passions is, how do we make sure every citizen has access to broadband? Maybe we should focus first on students because we’re saying, you have to do all this work online. You’ve got to collaborate. You’ve got to communicate with your teachers. You’ve got to read your books online. But we don’t make sure that every student has access to broadband in the home.
We have never said as a nation to a student, your parents can’t afford books, so you don’t get to do your homework. Or, you don’t get to read about history. But that’s exactly what we’re saying, so it’s like an educational crisis to me. We’re never going to solve the achievement gap in education if we don’t figure out how to make sure all students have the same basic tools to get an education. That’s what broadband is, and we’re not providing it. It makes me crazy.