March 2020

"Online first" census must navigate digital divide

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.

Community Anchor Institutions as Launching Pads for High-Performance Broadband Deployment

In the 2020s, public policy should recognize that bits are books, bits are blackboards, and bits are basic tools of medical practice. In other words, broadband networks that run to schools or libraries or health-care facilities are not built to carry only scholastic or literary or medical information.

The US government couldn’t shut down the Internet, right? Think again.

You might think it could never happen here in the United States. But think again. To understand how, start with the Communications Act of 1934 — which, though it has been amended and updated several times, is essentially an 86-year-old law that is still the framework for US communications policy today.