Reporting

The law that enabled the rise of social media and other internet businesses is facing threats unlike anything in its 24-year history, with potentially significant consequences for websites that host user content.

The Federal Communications Commission will soon shift to Democratic control, and speculation has already begun about who will assume the chairmanship under the Biden administration. Jessica Rosenworcel, the senior Democrat on the commission, is widely considered to be one of the leading candidates to succeed Ajit Pai in the powerful regulatory post. She has been vetted twice and would likely have a smooth path to confirmation, which would be a key consideration assuming the Senate remains in Republican hands. She also has the backing of Sen.

Flume's goal is to provide fast, affordable internet connections to at least 600,000 low-income residents in New York City, including to those in public housing. Flume was co-founded by Brandon Gibson and Prashanth Vijay. Flume is targeting all five New York City boroughs and also plans to deploy its broadband service in East Hartford, Connecticut in the spring of next year to provide fiber-based access to an additional 25,000 households. For public housing in the New York area, Flume Access' internet speed provides symmetrical speeds up of 200 Mbps.

The Federal Communications Commission denied a petition for reconsideration of the FCC’s June 30, 2020 order designating ZTE as a company posing a national security threat to the integrity of communications networks or the communications supply chain. After reviewing the record, the FCC found no basis for reconsideration. As a result, the FCC’s $8.3 billion a year Universal Service Fund cannot be used to purchase, obtain, maintain, improve, modify, or otherwise support any equipment or services produced or provided by ZTE as well as its parents, affiliates, and subsidiaries.

Nathan Simington, President Donald Trump’s controversial choice to be on the Federal Communications Commission, will get a vote Dec 2 from the Senate Commerce Committee on whether to advance his nomination to the full Senate. If Simington advances through the committee vote and then passes through a full vote in the Senate, he could put the FCC into a crunch for President-elect Joe Biden. If Simington’s nomination is approved, and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai steps down from his post ahead of the nomination (which is traditional), it would leave the agency stuck with 4 commissioners, two from each

The Maine Broadband Coalition launched the speed testing initiative Nov 23. In addition to finding out their own upload and download speeds, users will help the coalition identify slow spots around the state where the speeds are not up to snuff.

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is seeking conditions be imposed by the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) in regards to Frontier's Chapter 11 reorganization plan. PURA is tasked with reviewing Frontier's bankruptcy plan. CWA is trying to make sure the bankruptcy plan improves services and keeps jobs in Connecticut.

Eleven new lawmakers under the age of 45 were elected to the 117th Congress,  joining other under-45s leading on tech issues, including Silicon Valley Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO). Here’s what to know about some of the newcomers’ views on and ties to tech:

OneWeb has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy under new ownership and says it will begin launching more broadband satellites in December 2020. Similar to SpaceX Starlink, OneWeb is building a network of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites that can provide high-speed broadband with much lower latencies than traditional geostationary satellites. After a launch in December, launches will continue throughout 2021 and 2022, and OneWeb is now on track to begin commercial connectivity services to the UK and the Arctic region in late 2021 and will expand to delivering global services in 2022.

House Democrats and Republicans are finding common ground on a set of principles for countering tech monopolies that they believe could drive a bipartisan push in the new Congress to update antitrust law. Representatives from both parties are finding it easier to agree on antitrust policy ideas than on proposals about content moderation and liability, where the two parties