by Robert Wright

About the author: Robert Wright is a contributing editor for the New Republic, a weekly liberal newsmagazine.

The structure of the data superhighway is “the civil rights issue of the twenty- first century.” This opinion comes from the United Church of Christ, part of a coalition of liberal groups that landed on the front page of the New York Times with a study alleging “electronic redlining.” The study looked at neighborhoods where the Baby Bells are testing fiber-optic “video dial tone” service. It sensed a recurring theme of affluence and whiteness and concluded that the superhighway is bypassing the underprivileged. The study’s sponsors, among them the NAACP, want “anti-redlining” rules in the epic telecommunications legislation now forming in...