1. Monthly archive
  2. February 2020

February 2020

Senate's Tech Task Force Turns to 5G

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s tech task force is gearing up to take on 5G wireless, said Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). The bipartisan mix of lawmakers will be “looking at some of these intricacies that affect spectrum and 5G deployment, security of the network and applications that are available to make life more convenient and accessible for consumers,” she said. Sen Blackburn also nudged Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to make a call about whether to allow satellite firm Ligado Networks to light up wireless service.

Sen Kennedy Angles for the Trump Card

Sen. John Neely Kennedy has yet to go directly to President Donald Trump with his outrage over the Federal Communications Commission’s planned approach for auctioning the 5G-friendly C-band airwaves — but “I will,” he said. “There’s no big rush,” Sen Kennedy said. “The FCC is going to do what the FCC is going to do [Feb 28]. But what counts is what we do.

Tackling the Tribal Digital Divide

In the United States, 17 million of the 21 million people who lack fixed-line broadband access live in rural areas. (That’s one-third of all rural Americans.) The issue is twice as bad on rural tribal lands, where two-thirds of people lack high-speed internet connectivity.

Internet Shutdowns Become a Favorite Tool of Governments: ‘It’s Like We Suddenly Went Blind’

From autocratic Iran to democratic India, governments are cutting people off from the global web with growing frequency and little scrutiny. Parts or all of the internet were shut down at least 213 times in 33 countries in 2019, the most ever recorded, according to Access Now, a nonprofit that advocates for a free internet and has monitored the practice for a decade.

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