Affordable Broadband: Bridging the Global Digital Divide, a Social Justice Approach

Abstract

Access to broadband Internet is becoming a necessity for obtaining information and resources about healthcare, education, and employment. However, the broadband global digital divide continues to inhibit and limit individuals' access within and among nations. We address the question, What factors hinder and enable people from being able to afford broadband access to obtain vital information? This paper uses social justice theory (Rawls [47] and Sen [52][53][54][55]) as applied to information ethics (Floridi [21,22],, van Dijk [58,59]) to empirically examine the relationship between measures of social justice and individual capability on broadband affordability in 146 countries. The results from our statistical model show that measures of social justice and individual capability are positively associated with affordable broadband access across countries.

A Model of Digital Inequality in the Knowledge Society: The Case of Slovenia

“…The results of our empirical research show that internet use in Slovenia is below the EU average, but still high on the global scale. We detected no statistically significant divide as regards the aspect of gender, but determined that household income is an issue that persists in Slovenia, with households in the highest class having almost double the number of internet users compared to the lowest income class, thus showing similar results as other researchers (Rohman & Bohlin, 2013;Weiss et al, 2016).…”

“…What remains critical and crucial is the finding that inequalities are caused by social or financial reasons. Due to the proven relationship between socio-economic status and digital inequality (Weiss et al, 2016), mainly the state and its politicians must work towards achieving a smaller economic divide in such a manner that those who need more are provided more. We also agree with Sparks (2013) that research in the field of digital inequality is needed in the future since it coexists with and even deepens socio-economic inequality, which hinders the progress of society as such.…”

“…In other words, this means that one would have to work 1.5 days each month to cover one's internet subscription, which is still significant. Nonetheless, the research of Weiss et al (2016) showed that in the countries where the level of income and education is higher, the cost of accessing the internet is also more accessible. Finally, it has been determined that in the developed world access to the internet no longer represents a major obstacle and that we are approaching an era where people will refuse to have internet access only because they want it that way (Van Dijk, 2012).…”

The Analysis of E-Government Services Adoption and Use in Slovenian Information Society between 2014 and 2017

“…Regarding the most demanding services (submission of completed e-forms to public institutions), we can notice a triple difference between the first and the last group, which indicates that knowledge is of key importance for this type of services. Similar impacts of education on digital inequality were also determined by other authors (Sharma, 2015;Weiss, Yates, and Gulati, 2016).…”

“…Furthermore, the results of our research show a significant influence of the level of education and income group on all three measured indicators of public institution service use. Similarly, the analysis of 146 countries by Weiss, Yates, and Gulati (2016) showed that higher levels of income and education enhance broadband affordability. According to our analysis by income groups, the top income group (more than EUR 2,100 monthly income per household), with statistically significant better results than other groups, clearly stands out.…”