Racism & the Digital Divide

I've been thinking about the article referred to on Emi & Phil's blog on racism and the digital divide. First, I'm intrigued by the ending statistics on the number of Latino and African-American men that use the internet. My first thought on that was: why did they only have statistics on men? I wonder what the gap is for girls and women?

Aside from that, the article talks about some minority groups being mistrustful of the internet. That's interesting. Why would that be? Do they worry more about privacy? Do they worry that the government is snooping on us online? I'd like to know more about that statistic.

Finally, in terms of what I, as a future political professional, can do about this divide: perhaps advertising my client's website in other media, such as banners on mass transit, or on popular TV shows. If I work for an office-holder, then numerous opportunies present themselves, such as trying to get funding for hardware, software, and training in schools with more than 50% "people of color," or forming partnerships with teachers' organizations and civic organizations. Of course, another thought is to hire more minorities to design my clients' websites, or to appear as spokespersons of some kind, on or offline.