| Page 2 of 2 < |
Navajos Could Lose Net Access
Joe Shirley Jr., Navajo Nation president, appealed to the agency that pays the Internet service provider, which is under investigation after a Navajo audit.
(Photo: Donovan Quintero/AP)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
"The Navajo Nation is a place where you often can only get satellite connections, and that is very expensive," she said. Of the $2.25 billion USAC spends each year, "very little of that has been proven to be wasted. It is a very complicated system, so lots of schools are just unable to do the applications correctly."
She added that many schools now use satellite Internet connections for telephone communications. "Public safety could be threatened, because schools use VOIP," or voice-over-Internet protocol. "If you have a life-threatening situation with a student, you might not be able to call 911."
George Hardeen, a spokesman for the Navajo Nation's president's office, said this week that police emergency services would not be compromised despite the cutoff, but declined to comment further.
During the first phase of shut-off in April, Internet access for libraries and chapter houses was disconnected.
Victoria Bydone, the community services coordinator at the Inscription House Chapter at Tonalea, Ariz., said that many local residents had been upset over losing Internet access.
"For people who don't have a phone line or wireless, which is a large number of people around here, the nearest place to access the Internet is probably Page, Ariz., which is about 60 miles away," Bydone said. "I think with the price of gas going up, more people have been asking about the Internet." Before Internet service was introduced, she said, "they didn't notice not having it, but then they relied on it."
Eliza Yazzie, a 24-year-old college student, said many of her fellow students had used the Internet for online classes. "It became a real issue when it got switched off. People were really upset. There isn't really anywhere else around here for a lot of people to get online."
The project was originally funded with a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. By 2003, the foundation's annual report announced that "all 110 chapter houses in the Navajo Nation offer free access to computers and the Internet." Some chapter houses also were fitted with solar panels to provide electricity for the computers.
