New York City-based Kozmo takes orders over the Internet for video rentals, CDs, magazines, snack foods and other convenience items, and it guarantees delivery to your doorstep within an hour. Well, to some doorsteps anyway. The promise faded when Warren, a contractor with the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C., logged on to Kozmo s Web site from his home computer. The site prompted Warren for his ZIP code before allowing him to enter the online store. Then it denied him service, stating that the company did not deliver to his Southwest Waterfront neighborhood.
Warren is black.
So are 60 percent of the people who live in his community, according to a federal lawsuit filed in April by Warren and two other parties. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges racial redlining of predominantly African-American neighborhoods. I was under the impression that the Internet was supposed to be this big, wide-open thing. It s a slap in the face. Named plaintiff Winona Lake is employed by the Equal Rights Center, a nonprofit group also named as a plaintiff.