Margaret Harding McGill

The coronavirus pandemic has caused shortages of life-saving equipment like masks and ventilators — and now, we could be running low on Wi-Fi hotspots, devices that use cellular signals to create local networks. There are probably fewer than half a million hotspots available from the major carriers in the US, and the Asia-based supply chains that could replenish that stock continue to face coronavirus-linked disruptions, said Evan Marwell, CEO of Education Superhighway, a nonprofit that works with schools to increase broadband access. That pales in comparison to the millions of students wit

School districts are exploring ways to keep their homebound pupils connected to the classroom, even though many students don't have the internet service or devices they need to do assignments. Public-private partnerships are playing a central role. School districts don't have the budgets to pay for service or provide devices to families, so they're relying on nonprofits and private companies to fill the gaps.

Democratic Reps' coronavirus response plan unveiled March 23 would direct funding to pay for Wi-Fi hotspots for students and bar broadband providers from imposing data caps during the crisis. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced the legislation after the Senate failed to move its own stimulus measure forward. The House's $2.5 trillion "Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act" includes several provisions related to tech and telecommunication issues for the duration of the national emergency, including:

With the in-person economy in the US essentially shut down, the internet has never been more critical.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai spoke with broadband companies and trade associations about ensuring Americans can remain connected to the internet as coronavirus spreads. Some of the ideas that came up in the talks included expanding discounted internet service tiers for low-income people, easing data limits and minimizing service interruptions for subscribers, one of the people said. The nation's internet service providers say they haven't seen big usage spikes yet, but the coming weeks and months could pose an unprecedented test of their networks' ability to withstand

As the coronavirus pushes more human activities online, it's forcing a reckoning with the often-invisible digital divide. Both the government and private sector are moving to online systems and operations, but not everyone in the US can easily follow. "Coronavirus, without some immediate changes being made, is certainly going to exacerbate the haves and have nots for who's digitally connected," said Federal Communications Commissioner Geoffrey Starks.

K-12 schools weighing a shift to online learning in the shadow of the coronavirus are grappling with what to do about kids who don't have internet at home. "I don’t think the schools are adequately prepared to provide online learning to all of their students at home if they have to close for a long period of time," said John Windhausen, executive director of the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition. "It could be better than having no school whatsoever, but there are an awful lot of questions about how to do so fairly."

The government is encouraging Americans to respond to this year's census online, prompting concerns that millions who lack internet access may not be properly counted. The problem with "online first," Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel believes, is that the Census Bureau may be underestimating the number of Americans without reliable internet access and could end up stretched too thin to properly count those people. Libraries are working to support the online-first census as part of broader efforts to bridge the digital divide in their communities.

The tech industry's most consequential policy fights in 2020 will play out in the states, not Washington (DC). Momentum on a range of tech issues, from governing online privacy to regulating the gig economy, has stalled in DC as impeachment and election campaigns consume attention. State leaders and legislators are stepping in to fill the void. For example, California and Vermont are facing litigation over their attempts to impose their own net neutrality regulations after the Federal Communications Commission repealed the Obama-era open-internet rules. New York Gov.

After months of talks on bipartisan legislation, Senate Commerce Committee leaders have unveiled dueling privacy bills ahead of a hearing on Dec 4. But insiders believe the process might still yield a compromise both parties can embrace. Sen. Maria Cantwell's (D-WA) Consumer Online Privacy Rights Act would give the Federal Trade Commission greater enforcement authority and would allow consumers to enforce the law by bringing civil lawsuits. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) circulated his discussion draft, the United States Consumer Data Privacy Act; the bill would: