Technology access encompasses internet connectivity, devices, digital literacy, and the ability to participate fully in an increasingly digital society. It includes communication tools, access to information, online services, digital banking, telehealth, remote work capabilities, and educational resources. Digital exclusion—whether from lack of devices, internet access, or skills—creates barriers to employment, education, healthcare, civic participation, and social connection. Technology worker cooperatives can provide internet service as cooperative ISPs, offering affordable broadband especially in rural or underserved urban areas where corporate providers won't invest. Cooperative computer repair and refurbishment shops can provide affordable devices while creating skilled technical jobs. Tech support cooperatives can offer training, troubleshooting, and digital literacy education to community members, particularly elderly residents and others left behind by rapid technological change.
Additional models include cooperative web development and IT services for local businesses and nonprofits, keeping those service dollars in the community; cooperative makerspaces or tech education centers where instructors are worker-owners; and phone and device repair cooperatives. Data cooperatives can give communities democratic control over their own data, contrasting sharply with extractive surveillance capitalism. Technology cooperatives democratize both access and ownership of essential digital infrastructure. Rather than a few tech monopolies controlling our communications, data, and digital lives, worker-owned cooperatives can provide community-controlled alternatives that prioritize universal access, privacy, and digital equity while creating good jobs in the growing tech sector.