Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced a new bureau of cyberspace and digital policy to be led by a Senate-confirmed ambassador-at-large and a new, separate special envoy for critical and emerging technology. Both positions will report directly to Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman for at least the first year, according to Secretary Blinken's speech at the Foreign Service Institute.
Squid Game is just the beginning. But unfortunately, we have come to a crossroads where Internet gatekeepers could get to decide if the next great Korean story can be watched, and loved, by the world. A single broadband player in Korea is seeking to use its dominance to extract an arbitrary payment from streaming services like Netflix, for simply making our shows and films available on the internet to Korean consumers, who mind you, are already paying for their internet connection. We are doing our part to ensure Netflix isn’t a burden on Korean broadband companies.
Austin (TX) for years has been one of the nation's most desirable tech hubs. Yet despite this, some of Austin's most vulnerable populations still lack digital literacy, internet access and digital exposure. City officials said the demand for digital devices in Austin continues to surpass the number of devices available. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic and natural disasters such as the February freeze, which caused widespread power outages across the state, have exposed digital access gaps in the Austin area.
A new analysis by The Diffusion Group (TDG) finds that the number of US households subscribing to a broadband service but not a pay-TV service will grow from 38 million in 2020 to 54 million in 2025, up 42 percent in the five-year period. “By 2025, nine-in-ten US households will use residential broadband, of which roughly half will use a pay-TV service from a legacy or virtual MVPD [Multichannel Video Programming Distributor],” said Paul Hockenbury, veteran industry researcher and TDG senior analyst.
The purpose of the $3.2 billion Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) program is to help low-income Americans connect to the Internet during the Covid-19 pandemic. As of October 2021, EBB has more than 6 million recipients (about 700 thousand in California) and Congress is discussing several proposals to transition the EBB into a permanent broadband subsidy program. This policy brief examines broadband affordability in California and explores awareness and adoption of the EBB program among low-income California households.
45 civil-rights, media-democracy and consumer-advocacy groups called on Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan to initiate a rulemaking to safeguard privacy, promote civil rights and set guardrails against the abuse of data online. Discriminatory and abusive data practices are prevalent across the digital economy, the groups wrote
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