{"id":37734,"date":"2025-02-19T21:58:42","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T21:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/?p=37734"},"modified":"2025-06-23T18:39:31","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T18:39:31","slug":"scrubbing-the-internet-of-equity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/scrubbing-the-internet-of-equity\/","title":{"rendered":"New Orders are Scrubbing the Internet of Equity, Dismantling Transparency, and Making it Harder To Implement Bipartisan Law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Last week, while researching matters related to the bipartisan <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/117\/plaws\/publ58\/PLAW-117publ58.pdf#page=781\">Digital Equity Act<\/a>, I noticed that some online public resources were inaccessible. Maybe it was a glitch \u2013 a short outage? \u2013 but I checked back later, and still nothing. And I <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/kylewalker.bsky.social\/post\/3lhgpjdxcaw27\">wasn\u2019t the only one<\/a> experiencing these problems. Why? Here, I explain what led to this and reveal how removing critical data on government websites is contrary to the public interest and the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-rich is-provider-bluesky-social wp-block-embed-bluesky-social\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"bluesky-embed\" data-bluesky-uri=\"at:\/\/did:plc:ksubuwag725ajllqmo2ucrtg\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3lhgpjdxcaw27\" data-bluesky-cid=\"bafyreib45777wgqm6ucspevaw6sjaa7ej3luneiparljctfxf3cv5wznze\"><p>Updates on US Census Data as of February 5:According to the Census Bureau, all files on the public FTP server have been made publicly unavailable to comply with the President&#39;s executive orders.They say they&#39;ll work to restore the files after they are reviewed and approved.<\/p>&mdash; <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:ksubuwag725ajllqmo2ucrtg?ref_src=embed\">Kyle Walker (@kylewalker.bsky.social)<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:ksubuwag725ajllqmo2ucrtg\/post\/3lhgpjdxcaw27?ref_src=embed\">2025-02-05T13:47:42.000Z<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/embed.bsky.app\/static\/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s a strong bipartisan consensus that transparency matters, especially as it relates to the implementation and expenditure of the public\u2019s tax dollars \u2014 in this specific instance, public dollars supplied by the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that houses the Digital Equity Act. Removing information from the internet \u2013 data that was and should be publicly available, data that the Census Bureau itself published \u2013 is not transparent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the passage of the Digital Equity Act in 2021, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the U.S. Census Bureau worked together to create a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.census.gov\/programs-surveys\/community-resilience-estimates\/partnerships\/ntia\/digital-equity.html\">webpage<\/a> for the Digital Equity Act to provide data from 2019 and 2022 on covered populations so that \u201cusers can identify and help address the needs of unserved and underserved populations\u201d and \u201cevaluate local populations covered under the legislation.\u201d But when one tries to access the <a href=\"https:\/\/mtgis-portal.geo.census.gov\/arcgis\/apps\/webappviewer\/index.html?id=c5e6cf675865464a90ff1573c5072b42\">Digital Equity Act Population Viewer<\/a>, there is a login popup preventing access to the underlying map (figure 1). And when trying to download the Excel <a href=\"https:\/\/www2.census.gov\/programs-surveys\/demo\/datasets\/community-resilience\/state_total_covered_populations_2022.xlsx\">data file<\/a>, there is a 403 Error, which<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sitelock.com\/blog\/how-to-fix-403-forbidden-error\/\"> means that<\/a> I was able to connect with the server but was forbidden from accessing the content (figure 2).<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"284\" height=\"335\" src=\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AD_4nXeKEsr0u98WW-7BEVe7lBSd5rnrHOd2wJd4AVQtWcXcPJUoqsEhkGmZg8_I7bYgXcxwLjsC5s0NcIAOwtCQTThTisqsS6Bgfl-vVdvAzaCffw-XMjzJ-JpjvXEtugYQezS-MK5-0A.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37741\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Figure 1<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1392\" height=\"256\" src=\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AD_4nXdIYts8a86FWDBMvxQe6erZnvbEURG1ybFKE1ockJ-eZS-BFFhZXXKf786vXRR-I12k5MMvGCjSVE3WXWlXVY92pGwp_V8pHDVl9WWgf2_SYpEJUuX9N8aOTXq9-kcFSbrnSutX.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37742\" srcset=\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AD_4nXdIYts8a86FWDBMvxQe6erZnvbEURG1ybFKE1ockJ-eZS-BFFhZXXKf786vXRR-I12k5MMvGCjSVE3WXWlXVY92pGwp_V8pHDVl9WWgf2_SYpEJUuX9N8aOTXq9-kcFSbrnSutX.png 1392w, https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AD_4nXdIYts8a86FWDBMvxQe6erZnvbEURG1ybFKE1ockJ-eZS-BFFhZXXKf786vXRR-I12k5MMvGCjSVE3WXWlXVY92pGwp_V8pHDVl9WWgf2_SYpEJUuX9N8aOTXq9-kcFSbrnSutX-960x177.png 960w, https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AD_4nXdIYts8a86FWDBMvxQe6erZnvbEURG1ybFKE1ockJ-eZS-BFFhZXXKf786vXRR-I12k5MMvGCjSVE3WXWlXVY92pGwp_V8pHDVl9WWgf2_SYpEJUuX9N8aOTXq9-kcFSbrnSutX-768x141.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1392px) 100vw, 1392px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Figure 2<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>This is not the first government website that was taken down by the new Trump administration and it certainly won\u2019t be the last. Census data and webpages were<a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/7211965\/trump-federal-websites-data\/\"> reported<\/a> taken down as early as January 31, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/02\/upshot\/trump-government-websites-missing-pages.html\"> reports indicate<\/a> that over 8,000 webpages have been scrubbed government-wide. These takedowns appear to be responsive to three recent executive orders \u2013 Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/01\/defending-women-from-gender-ideology-extremism-and-restoring-biological-truth-to-the-federal-government\/\">E.O. 14168<\/a>), Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/01\/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing\/\">E.O. 14151<\/a>), and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/01\/initial-rescissions-of-harmful-executive-orders-and-actions\/\"> <\/a>Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/01\/initial-rescissions-of-harmful-executive-orders-and-actions\/\">E.O. 14148<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I suspect that the latter two are at play here in removing critical data on covered populations that is needed for the implementation of the Digital Equity Act. As the Economic Policy Institute<a href=\"https:\/\/www.epi.org\/policywatch\/eo-ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing\/\"> explains<\/a>, these executive orders and subsequent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opm.gov\/media\/e1zj1p0m\/opm-memo-re-initial-guidance-regarding-deia-executive-orders-1-21-2025-final.pdf\">OPM Guidance<\/a> \u201crequire agencies to remove all DEIA-related materials from their website[s].\u201d&nbsp; Scrubbing the word equity and any related information threatens government programs and will lead to increasing inefficiencies and more waste \u2013 especially for the Digital Equity Act, which has the word equity in its title and relies on the prioritization of supporting covered populations in expanding internet access to all Americans in an equitable manner. Not to mention, the Act in the bipartisan infrastructure law uses the word \u201cequity\u201d over 40 times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Removing everything relating to &#8220;equity&#8221; from websites that host information on laws with equity in their names, like the Digital Equity Act, will make these websites confusing and harder to use for constituents and grantees. But beyond being technically inadvisable, it is a clumsy attempt to rewrite legislative history \u2013 if this administration wants to roll back equity-oriented laws, they must do so using traditional democratic institutions, also known as Congress. Without having a way to include equity in these programs \u2013 Americans will get left out of basic internet connectivity, programs with funding and bipartisan support may fail in their mission, and the government as a whole will be less efficient.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To begin, these actions defy the law by making it difficult to comply with it and preventing government agencies from doing what the law says they can do. The Digital Equity Act expressly allows the NTIA to work with federal agencies and other \u201centities with expertise\u201d to \u201cdevelop, catalog, disseminate, and promote the exchange of best practices, both with respect to and independent of the covered programs, in order to achieve digital equity\u201d and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/117th-congress\/house-bill\/1841\/text#H47C2B2AB91C84BA1B74C18778D4DCB8E\">further requires<\/a> the NTIA to provide \u201cassistance to entities to prepare the applications\u201d and \u201cother resources\u2026 to ensure consistency with data reporting\u2026\u201d By working together to produce the <a href=\"https:\/\/mtgis-portal.geo.census.gov\/arcgis\/apps\/webappviewer\/index.html?id=c5e6cf675865464a90ff1573c5072b42\">Digital Equity Act Population Viewer<\/a>, NTIA and the Census Bureau have followed the law \u2013 in fact they have done what Congress wanted them to do in order to advance its goals. Requiring agencies to strike the word \u201cequity\u201d or information related to DEI generally ignores the law, frustrates these goals of the Digital Equity Act, and will make it difficult to implement the Digital Equity Act.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Furthermore, even beyond frustrating the implementation of law, courts are beginning to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/judge-orders-hhs-cdc-fda-restore-deleted-webpages-health-information\/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&amp;linkId=744799427\">confirm<\/a> that these executive orders are likely illegal. Last week, a United States District Court Judge ordered the Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control, and Food and Drug Administration to restore webpages related to The Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance System, The Social Vulnerability Index, and The Environmental Justice Index, as well as a webpage on \u201cDiversity Action Plans to Improve Enrollment of Participants from Underrepresented Populations in Clinical Studies,\u201d that were taken down as a result of E.O. 14168 described above. In the <a href=\"https:\/\/legalectric.org\/f\/2025\/02\/Memorandum-Opinion_Doctors-For-America.pdf\">Memorandum Opinion<\/a>, the judge found that there was a substantial likelihood of success on the legal claim that the executive order and resultant executive actions violate the Administrative Procedure Act and the Paperwork Reduction Act. The judge further found that the suing party would suffer irreparable injury, that an injunction would not substantially injure other interested parties, and that the public interest would be furthered by the injunction. As a result of this legal analysis, the judge issued a temporary restraining <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.277069\/gov.uscourts.dcd.277069.11.0_1.pdf\">order<\/a>. This bodes well for a legal challenge on the executive order removing \u201cequity,\u201d as this order was implemented using a similar procedure and swift process.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These executive actions also contravene the will of the people and the express intent of Congress. In the Digital Equity Act, digital equity is defined as \u201cthe condition in which individuals and communities have the information technology capacity that is needed for full participation in the society and economy of the United States.\u201d Congress clearly asserted that \u201cachieving digital equity is a matter of social and economic justice and is worth pursuing.\u201d Congress appropriated $2.75 billion for four grant programs aimed at achieving digital equity. In order for applicants and grantees, to effectively use this funding \u2013 in line with the law \u2013 they must be able to consistently identify covered populations. This is not possible without data on equity. Considering the administration\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/21\/us\/politics\/doge-government-efficiency-trump-musk.html\">keen focus<\/a> on efficiency and preventing waste, these executive orders and the resultant removal of Digital Equity Act information from the Census website may lead to inefficient expenditures of appropriated funds because grant applicants, recipients, and the public, in general, cannot access critical information on covered populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, let&#8217;s remember who the \u201ccovered populations\u201d are that the Digital Equity Act is meant to help connect to broadband. Many Americans view equity programs as only serving racial groups who have historically been discriminated against. While <a href=\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/policy\/one-pager-on-digital-redlining\/\">historical discrimination in sectors like broadband deployment is a fact<\/a> for racial groups, that is not the only group served by the Digital Equity Act. <a href=\"https:\/\/uscode.house.gov\/view.xhtml?path=\/prelim@title47\/chapter16\/subchapter2&amp;edition=prelim#:%7E:text=(8)%20Covered%20populations\">Under the law, there are eight covered populations<\/a> that need outreach to increase broadband adoption:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>(A) individuals who live in covered households;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>(B) aging individuals;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>(C) incarcerated individuals, other than individuals who are incarcerated in a Federal correctional facility;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>(D) veterans;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>(E) individuals with disabilities;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>(F) individuals with a language barrier, including individuals who\u2014\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>(i) are English learners; and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>(ii) have low levels of literacy;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>(G) individuals who are members of a racial or ethnic minority group; and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>(H) individuals who primarily reside in a rural area.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Each of these groups of Americans have challenges or barriers to adopting essential broadband services. You may know some examples, because they are experiences of your own family or neighbors. Whether it is a disabled veteran, a low income family of four, or a rural Tribal community, all Americans deserve support to connect to broadband, the essential communications service of this century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the new administration continues to implement changes, I hope that it finds ways to make these processes even better, rather than breaking the law in order to pursue its pet political objectives or advancing actions and policies that harm some of the most vulnerable Americans. Government websites and government data exist to inform the public, build public trust, and provide a transparent window into government policies and spending. This data \u2013 all of it, equity included \u2013 is vital for a healthy democracy. Therefore, we must oppose the unilateral, top-down scrubbing of this information from the internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>*NOTE: While the Digital Equity Act Population Viewer and associated Web Tools on the Census Bureau&#8217;s website were down during the time in which I wrote this blog post, it appears that the information and content are back online, likely as a result of court challenges to the executive orders resulting in the takedown of DEI-related content. This does not negate the fact that critical information was taken down for some time in effort to stymie the progress of the&nbsp;DEA&#8217;s implementation<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The continued attacks on DEI are making the Digital Equity Act harder to follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":223,"featured_media":37740,"parent":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-37734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insights","tag-broadband-access"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.5 (Yoast SEO v26.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>New Orders are Scrubbing the Internet of Equity, Dismantling Transparency, and Making it Harder To Implement Bipartisan Law - Public Knowledge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The continued attacks on DEI are making the Digital Equity Act harder to follow.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/scrubbing-the-internet-of-equity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Orders are Scrubbing the Internet of Equity, Dismantling Transparency, and Making it Harder To Implement Bipartisan Law\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The continued attacks on DEI are making the Digital Equity Act harder to follow.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/scrubbing-the-internet-of-equity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Public Knowledge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-19T21:58:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-23T18:39:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Privacy-1440x720.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter Gregory\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter Gregory\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/scrubbing-the-internet-of-equity\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/scrubbing-the-internet-of-equity\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Peter Gregory\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/#\/schema\/person\/904fad092cbb7057d94427ab12953496\"},\"headline\":\"New Orders are Scrubbing the Internet of Equity, Dismantling Transparency, and Making it Harder To Implement Bipartisan Law\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-19T21:58:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-23T18:39:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/scrubbing-the-internet-of-equity\/\"},\"wordCount\":1556,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/scrubbing-the-internet-of-equity\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Privacy.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Broadband Access\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Insights\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/scrubbing-the-internet-of-equity\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/scrubbing-the-internet-of-equity\/\",\"name\":\"New Orders are Scrubbing the Internet of Equity, Dismantling Transparency, and Making it Harder To Implement Bipartisan Law - 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