Back in January, Todd Oppenheimer published a devastating article on eRate, the federal tax on phone service that funds wiring schools for and to the Internet. Internet access in schools is one of the many techno-utopian ideas that floated around in the go-go 1990s, when every politician worth his salt wanted to give kids "the tools they need to succeed in a rapidly changing global environment," and other assorted blather. In fact, as Oppenheimer pointed out, the program was a mess from the beginning, with accusations that tech companies were enticing schools to buy gobs of soon-to-be-outmoded technology they didn't need. This week, criminal investigations into eRate culminated in an admission of wrongdoing on the part of NEC Business Network Solutions for wire fraud and conspiracy. As part of the settlement, the company agreed to $20 million in fines and restitution. Another company has been charged as well, and a San Francisco school administrator is serving time in jail for accepting bribes to buy technology with a no-bid contract.
"NEC unit admits it defrauded schools," by Matt Richtel and Gary Rivlin, New York Times, May 27, 2004, http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/28/technology/28net.html"The Internet school scam," by Todd Oppenheimer, The Nation, January 29, 2004, http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040216&s=oppenheimer&c=1