Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy

Successes and Failures of the 1996 Telecommunications Act

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Afterword

Does the Digital Divide Still Exist?

Appendix

Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy

About the Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy

The rules that govern the National Information Infrastructure concern and impact us all. Communications policy will determine whether all citizens will be able to participate effectively in the political process, have access to the public airwaves, share in the fruits of publicly-funded research, or maintain their privacy. Communications policy is a civil rights issue.

The Civil Rights Forum works to bring civil rights organizations and community groups into the current debate over the future of our media environment.

The Forum is a project of the Tides Center, a national non-profit organization which manages hundreds of projects that promote change toward a healthy society -- one which is founded on principles of social justice, broadly shared economic opportunity and a robust democratic process. The twin goals of the Forum are to introduce civil rights principles and advocacy to the implementation of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, and to reframe the discussion over the role of media in our society around the needs of communities and the rights of citizens.

The Forum:

Conducts research on communications policy issues from a civil rights perspective.
Creates educational materials on civil rights and communications policy.
Forges working links among civil rights groups, communications policy activists, neighborhood technology centers, and the aca-demic community.
Encourages leadership development through a student/ intern program focusing on civil rights and communications policy.
Hosts meetings to explore and forge consensus on communications policy and civil rights questions.