The (would-be) Senators from Silicon Valley
On November 8, America could accomplish another political first: Electing two US senators from the idiosyncratic, increasingly ideological world of Silicon Valley venture capital.
October 2022
During the height of the pandemic and now in this present time of variants, policymakers, public interest groups, researchers, and citizens have been preoccupied with the lack of connectivity in the United States. Conversely, they have been at pains to ensure that everyone in the country has access to high speed, affordable internet (“broadband”). At the highest levels of power, this push for connection resulted in the passage of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
High prices, low speeds and fraud plague U.S. aid to keep people online
At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Congress chartered a first-of-its-kind federal effort to help struggling Americans who could not afford to lose access to the internet. The aid proved to be a godsend for millions of low-income families, but it also sent the nation’s telecommunications giants scrambling for the new federal money—unleashing price hikes, service cuts, and fraud risks that hurt customers and taxpayers alike. The story of the government’s roughly $17 billion efforts to close the country’s persistent digital divide is one of great promise and costly peril.
Big Tech Seeks Supreme Court Review of Online 'Must-Carry' Law
Computer companies and edge providers are asking the US Supreme Court to weigh in on the issue of whether state governments can impose what the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) is branding "must-carry" for online platforms and a "road map" for those wishing to fill the internet with offensive content edge providers would have to carry. Cable operators have long been subject to must-carry rules governing carriage of broadcast stations, carriage those operators have also argued is compelled speech that violates the First Amendment.
Public Knowledge Launches Movement for a Better Internet To Create an Internet That Benefits Everyone
Public Knowledge joined the Association for Progressive Communications, Creative Commons, Derechos Digitales, Internet Archive, Niskanen Center, and Wikimedia Foundation to launch the Movement for a Better Internet, a diverse community of advocates and activists working together to promote policies that create a better internet for people everywhere. The movement is a collaborative effort seeking to drive policy change based on a public interest vision for internet that benefits us all.
Mayor Perkins unveils program to bridge digital divide in Shreveport
Shreveport (LA) Mayor Adrian Perkins made good on another part of his smart city initiative that he campaigned on four years ago. Mayor Perkins joined library officials and others to launch the start of Universal Digital Access. Mayor Perkins says that by using hi-tech gadgets mounted on the garbage trucks, the city mapped out areas of the city that don't have good internet access. "Many of the libraries are actually within that digital desert.
Commissioner Geoffrey Starks Remarks at Open Technology Institute NGSO Satellite Event
As a Commissioner focused so deeply on the digital divide, I’m especially thrilled about what a golden era in commercial space could mean for broadband. New satellite broadband systems promise more choice and better performance for many Americans, including those who live, work, and travel in some the toughest-to-serve places. Making space innovation sustainable is a multidimensional problem. They can even improve the reach of terrestrial broadband networks, through satellite backhaul and, perhaps one day soon, base stations flying in low-Earth orbit.
TDS begins broadband expansion project in New London, several other central Minnesota cities
Residents and businesses in Brooten, Danube, Kerkhoven, New London, Pennock, and Spicer (MN) will soon be gaining access to 1-gigabit broadband connections, thanks to a project by TDS Telecommunications. TDS will connect more than 3,700 properties to fiber broadband service, with the first set of people being able to connect by next summer.
Will Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Rules Drive States to Rethink Anti-Municipal Broadband Laws?
The Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program has $42.5 billion available to cover some of the costs of bringing broadband to unserved and underserved rural areas. States will administer the program but must first have a plan approved by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and, as new research from BroadbandNow shows, some states face an important hurdle as they prepare their plans—a hurdle that involves anti-municipal broadband laws.
Rural Minnesota broadband project leverages towers to connect residents
Broadband internet access and speeds will increase for homes and businesses in and around Madelia, Minnesota thanks to a collaboration by the companies Midco, Crystal Valley Cooperative, and Land O’Lakes. Land O’Lakes and Crystal Valley helped Midco in finding locations to place infrastructure. Rather than laying a lot of new fiber lines to homes and far-flung farm sites, the project uses a system of towers and antennas to get high-bandwidth signals to customers. “The Madelia project is a bit unique, it is a hub site,” said Ben Dold senior VP of operations for Midco.