Talk by Mr. Sascha Meinrath, Director (X-Lab) & Founder (Open Technology Institute)-January 7, 2015 Title: "Dark side of Metcalf's Law" The Dark Side of Metcalf's Law Dominant Internet service provision business models reinforce a persistent digital divide: both through their cost-structuring and their necessity for high average return per user (ARPU). In essence, high-ARPU service provisions all but guarantees that the poorest quintiles of humanity have no meaningful access to online resources and digital applications. This "Dark Side of Metcalf's Law" means that as a higher percentage of people get online and receive the (supralineal) benefits that the Network Effect provides, the gulf between those online and offline constituencies will expand exponentially. But even if we are able to address this core problem, current conceptualizations of the digital divide fail to account for an even more sinister facet of an increasingly networked world: that civic participation and even participatory democracy itself are intersecting more and more with the virtual world -- leaving the poor doubly disenfranchised. Within this context, bridging the digital divide requires a far more complete solution -- one that provides not only connectivity, but the tools and resources for latecomers to this new public sphere to meaningfully organize and engage. In much the same way that civil society has historically engaged in major interventions to address prior structural inequality (e.g., the Fifteenth and Nineteenth Amendments, Voter Rights Act of 1965), we now need to accomplish this same societal-shifting evolution in thinking to ensure virtual enfranchisement. Using this framework, we explore the implications of utilizing Commotion Wireless networks (to provide low-cost Internet connectivity) and integrating the Loomio and DemocracyOS decision-making and voting platforms, as an partnership that encompasses the key components necessary for meaningfully bridging the digital divide in the 21st Century. Sascha Meinrath is the Director of the X-Lab (http://www.thexlab.org/) and the Founder of the Open Technology Institute. He has been described as a "community Internet pioneer" and an "entrepreneurial visionary." He is a well-known expert on community wireless networks, municipal broadband, and telecommunications policy. In 2009 he was named one of Ars Technica's Tech Policy "People to Watch" and is also the 2009 recipient of the Public Knowledge IP3 Award for excellence in public interest advocacy. Sascha is a co-founder of Measurement Lab, a distributed server platform for researchers around the world to deploy Internet measurement tools, advance network research, and empower the public with useful information about their broadband connections. He also coordinates the Open Source Wireless Coalition, a global partnership of open source wireless integrators, researchers, implementors and companies dedicated to the development of open source, interoperable, low-cost wireless technologies. He is a regular contributor to Government Technology's Digital Communities, the online portal and comprehensive information resource for the public sector. Sascha has worked with Free Press, the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA), the Acorn Active Media Foundation, the Ethos Group, and the CUWiN Foundation.

• published: 27 Jan 2015
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