American Public Media

[Commentary] If we just blindly build networks of roads and bridges that are just like the ones we built in the 1950s, we could miss out on opportunities to nurture the autonomous car industry, innovative energy technologies, drone delivery airspace, and expanded broadband infrastructure. Or, heck, we might only need half as many actual roads if autonomous cars really do end up dramatically reducing the number of vehicles on them. Infrastructure investment is a stated goal of President-elect Donald Trump—he originally promised a $1 trillion investment, which then dropped to about half, according to the Trump transition website.

But by most analyses, that plan actually depends on investment by private companies who’ll get big tax breaks for embarking on infrastructure projects. There’s some skepticism about why those private companies might get involved in such large, expensive undertakings, but if they do, maybe that’ll mean they’re also investing in high-tech experiments that could pay off for all of us in the long run. Or maybe the chance to develop and eventually sell futuristic tech will motivate them to invest in the first place.

For years now, newspapers and magazines have been dealing with a decline in advertising, including a drop in political advertising. There is an exception to that, however. Candidates still see value in periodicals that serve specific communities, including Spanish speakers and African-Americans.

That makes these newspapers popular with local candidates, and no-brainers for national candidates who get a lot of bang for their buck.

There's a lot of debate over whether United States or European Union online privacy protections are better. In theory, the EU has it better: Privacy law across the Atlantic actually guarantees protection of personal data, and new digital privacy legislation being considered by the European Parliament would strengthen those guarantees.

David Sorkin, who teaches information technology and privacy and consumer law at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, says in the US, we enforce our digital privacy rights, albeit privately.

"That is, the right to sue," he explains. "And sometimes, that would have to be in the form of a class action. Whereas in the EU it's mostly data protection commissioners, regulators, who impose the rules and enforce them."

Kathryn Finney, the founder of DigitalUndivided, says for people of color, networking can be a stumbling block. "We're not part of those networks," Finney said.

But people who work in tech say helping others break in is only part of the solution. Leigh Honeywell, a security engineer, administrator of the Geek Feminism wiki, and member of Double Union, a feminist hacker space, said women who make it through the pipeline and get jobs in tech are confronted by a culture that can be downright sexist.

"It's really not cool to be encouraging all of these young girls and young people of color to enter a field where they are going to face discrimination," said Honeywell. "It's up to those of us that are here, both men and women to encourage attitude changes."

In the tech industry, one of the central debates has been over whether continued technological innovation can do much good for a wider group of people than just a narrow slice of the urban upper middle class.

The “digital divide” -- the gaps between technology haves and have-nots -- is a real and pressing issue. The skewed demographics of the tech industry can also make using technology to improve social outcomes a challenge.

“It creates a lot of anxiety and fear,” says Tessie Guillermo, CEO of the tech consulting company ZeroDivide. The ability to give digital literacy to these groups -- community organizations and underserved communities -- is difficult, and the demographics compound the challenge.

Furthermore, the way the tech industry impatiently deals with these problems with quick fix improvements could be counterproductive, she said.

The House of Representatives is back from summer recess, and among the items on the agenda is the Social Media Working Group Act of 2014. While the government is already working with social media to inform and interact with citizens, one of the proposals under consideration is establishing a standard operating procedure for the Department of Homeland Security's Twitter account during a crisis.

According to Nate Elliott, social media analyst at Forrester Research, typically “The hope is when government or another authority tweets something, people will share it for them.” However, because of the noisy environment of social media platforms, that generally doesn’t happen. “Messages wash away very quickly,” according to Elliott. It's why the government is looking for a more cohesive social media strategy.

The Los Angeles Unified School District had plans to give every kid an iPad; a billion-dollar proposition. But it turns out the one-size-fits-all approach may not be the best strategy after all.

Broadening the choices makes sense, said Brandon Martinez from USC’s Rossier School of Education. “It allows students and teachers to see what works best for them. And then they can give feedback, they can swap devices, and give a more informed decision when they look to purchase at a larger scale.”

What's more, Mike Fisher, who studies the education technology market for Futuresource, thinks big tech companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon will start forging more partnerships with curriculum providers.

“You’ll see some of the publishers in the marketplace, people like Scholastic, Pearson, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, partnering with hardware vendors,” he said. Schools are a $13 billion global battlefield for makers of educational technology. “It’s a green field,” said Stephen Baker, an analyst at the NPD group. “A place to sell that doesn’t have anything now, so it’s all new volume.”

Technology is pouring into schools faster than their Wi-Fi can keep up with it. Virtually all school officials in a recent survey of 447 school districts said they will need to upgrade their Internet speeds within three years.

The survey was done by the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), a professional association for district technology leaders. Education Super-Highway, which promotes high-speed Internet in schools, recommends a download speed of 100 mbps (megabytes-per-second), for a school with 1,000 students and staff. But, the organization says "the typical public school has the same Internet access as the typical home -- but with 100x more users."

The solution? Mostly more money. Nearly three-quarters of districts in the CoSN survey said the cost of the monthly Internet charges are a barrier to getting the speed they need.

That wasn’t the only problem. Just over 10 percent said their Internet provider was not able to give them the higher speed they required.

The map shows Department of Education data on the maximum possible download speeds available at more than 70,000 schools in the country. It does not show whether the school has the top speed. You can see schools in your town, or nearby, by entering your zip code into the box above the map. By clicking on the markers you can see more specific information on download speed.

In the US, satellite TV has been at something of a disadvantage, compared to cable.

“Part of the reason for that is they lacked the clout to effectively negotiate reasonable rates for content, so they’ve always lagged in the content wars,” according to David Balto, a former policy director for the Federal Trade Commission who now runs a private anti-trust practice. The merger will, says Balto, place both AT&T and DirectTV in a much better position to bargain for content in the US, making it “a much stronger rival to Comcast.”

There are places, however, where satellite already has the upper hand and where DirectTV has a significant stake that could accrue to its and AT&T’s mutual benefit, if the merger makes it past regulators. In many emerging markets, where public infrastructure is limited, satellite access is cheaper and more feasible for consumers. DirectTV has aggressively targeted Latin America, where it now has around 18 million subscribers, and which constitutes its fastest growing segment.

“There’s a great opportunity for expansion in Latin America,” says Erik Brannon with IHS Global Insight. “As people become more affluent, uptake of more high-end cell services like what we enjoy domestically would become the norm, so it’s a significant opportunity for AT&T to expand and do what they do best -- provide wireless services.”

Federal regulators that are already busy sorting out a different telecommunications merger: Comcast’s bid to buy Time Warner Cable. “Big fish are swallowing small fish,” says Reed Hundt, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, of the changing media landscape. “And if you want to avoid being swallowed, you need to be a bigger and bigger fish.” AT&T, which is primarily a wireless provider, wants to diversify -- to be able to sell customers phone service, Internet access, and television. And its advantage in selling regulators on the deal? Its size. "In terms of the pay TV business," says Todd Rethemeier of Hudson Square, "AT&T is a relatively small player."