July 2021

FCC Affirms Enforcement Bureau Fine Against Mobile Relay

The Federal Communications Commission denied an appeal from a California-based company that repeatedly disregarded its obligations to reasonably share a channel with other licensees. Mobile Relay Associates disputed the FCC Enforcement Bureau’s earlier imposition of a fine for improperly monopolizing use of a shared wireless communications channel, failing to monitor the channel to detect possible interference problems, and actually causing interference to co-channel licensees. The Bureau had warned the company repeatedly to change its behavior, but Mobile Relay did not do so.

FCC Updates International Filing Requirements for the Digital Age (Federal Communications Commission)

Submitted by Grace Tepper on Tue, 07/13/2021 - 12:54

Two-thirds of Americans, 227 million, play video games. For many games were an escape, stress relief in pandemic (USA Today)

Submitted by Grace Tepper on Tue, 07/13/2021 - 12:54

Rural Broadband Investments Promote an Inclusive Economy

High-speed internet is a necessity, but rural Americans, particularly poor people and people of color, often lack access to this important utility. This challenge requires investment on a historic scale as well as public understanding of the disparities between rural and urban areas during the pandemic, what they mean for rural Americans’ access to services that meet their basic needs, and why broadband is a part of the country’s essential infrastructure. Using data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking, the column finds:

Biden's call to restore net neutrality: What you should know

President Joe Biden wants net neutrality regulations back on the books. In his executive order on competition, Biden urged the Federal Communications Commission to restore Obama-era net neutrality rules and to take other measures to promote broadband competition, including asking the FCC to require broadband companies to provide transparency on pricing. Net neutrality supporters applauded the executive order and calls for the FCC to restore net neutrality protections.

How Internet and TV providers get away with jacking up your bill

About 200 million people live in parts of America with only one or two options for reliable, fast Internet, according to the White House. Internet service providers also get to sell service using techniques borrowed from used car salesmen; they bundle Internet access with cable TV without telling you how much you’re paying for each, concoct arbitrary charges for using “too much” data, and lock whole apartment buildings into exclusi

Sponsor:

Center for Technology Innovation

Brookings

Date:

Fri, 07/23/2021 - 12:30 to 13:30

As digitization increasingly shapes the scope of U.S. international trade, regulations and policies regarding cross-border data transfers carry significant economic implications. Yet—as the recent invalidation of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) demonstrates—trade, economic competitiveness, and free flows of data can come into tension with privacy and security protections.