Today, Google is working fast to scan all the books in libraries across the United States and put them online, where anyone can search them easily by keyword. Referring to scope of the project, Google vice-president Marissa Mayer recently called it the company's "moon shot." Indeed, there is no better example of the amazing way that knowledge -- and all the power it conveys in today's information age -- is moving online and within reach of anyone who can afford an Internet connection.

Unfortunately, that doesn't mean everyone. Today, nearly 90 percent of homes have access to broadband Internet but only 42 percent actually subscribe to broadband services at home. The statistics for minorities are starker: only 14 percent of African Americans subscribe to broadband Internet services -- only 13 percent of Hispanics do. That means future generations of minorities -- including young students that aspire to attend South Carolina State University or Clafin University -- are already being left behind, missing out on an online experience that will be crucial to their future educational, occupational and social success.

But well-meaning activists are now pushing for regulations on the Internet that would actually raise the price of broadband access, effectively pulling the high-speed plug on minority and low-income youth. They are pushing for "net neutrality" legislation, which would block broadband service providers from charging large Internet companies -- like Google -- for carrying things like high-quality video into users' homes. The activists believe these laws will protect freedom of speech on the web -- but no one's speech is being blocked and it's unclear why broadband providers would want to anger their subscribers through censorship. Freedom of speech is not what's at stake. Like most regulatory battles, this is about money and the losers will be minority and low-income youth.

Large Internet companies like Google and Yahoo are making lots of money by sending millions of users huge amounts of information -- many times the amount that you or I could send in a lifetime of email. They pay to hook up to the Internet -- just like anyone -- but they are ultimately making money through your Internet connection, because every time you look at a Google search page, you glance over several small advertisements, which actually bring in billions in revenue for the search giant because of your "eyeballs." So Google pays to hook up to the Internet on its end, but doesn't pay to maintain or upgrade the network that delivers its information -- and advertisements -- to everyday users, which is how the company makes its money.

Today's Internet users usually see nothing wrong with this -- Google pays and so do we, fair is fair. But a voice is being silenced -- those who are offline. If Google chipped in and paid its fair share of the information superhighway it uses to reach its customers, not only would everyone now online have to pay less, but more people could afford to subscribe to broadband Internet. Imagine the benefit for democratic debate online if we included wider segments of society in the broadband bonanza -- more viewpoints, more innovation and, most importantly, more education. Never before in the history of our republic would people of minority and low-income backgrounds have a more powerful tool to educate, enlighten and express themselves, regardless of color or class. It would erase real barriers to higher education, as good kids in bad neighborhoods could find a world they only dreamed of waiting for them at the click of a mouse, with test preparation and college applications all online.

But net-neutrality laws would block this reality, by freezing the Internet's development at present conditions. Without large Internet companies paying their fair share of the road to reach their customers, broadband costs will likely keep step with today's subscribers, but just out of reach for those who could benefit the most. But if companies like Google -- who has benefited the most from the Internet's riches -- were to pay their fair share, it could open up a wealth of opportunity for minority and low-income communities, putting the world and all its knowledge at their fingertips. That would be a moon shot worthy of celebration.

Dr. Art Thomas is senior manager of leadership at the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education. Representing more than 500,000 students and their families, NAFEO champions the interests of America's historically and predominantly black colleges and universities.

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