Challenges to Achieving Digital Equity or “Why Covered Populations Are Covered”
Tuesday, August 15, 2023
August 2023
Twitter shuts down $100 million promoted accounts ad business (Axios)
Submitted by benton on Tue, 08/15/2023 - 06:39Analysis
Analysis
100% Broadband Access in the US — The Time is Now
In June 2023, President Joe Biden announced how more than $42 billion in Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding will be allocated across the US and its territories to bring 100% broadband access to nearly 60 million unserved or underserved Americans within five years. Now, the real work begins: determining how 50 states and six territories will put that funding to work. Despite the many funding initiatives aimed to solve the problem in the US, those finances are finite and currently trending in a “fiber-first” direction.
An Internet Veteran’s Guide to Not Being Scared of Technology
How can we protect ourselves from A.I.? That was the question that Mike Masnick found himself fielding this summer in a WhatsApp chat with about 100 directors, actors and screenwriters. The group, including marquee talent, was worried about a grim possible future in which deepfake versions of actors perform screenplays written by ChatGPT.
Albuquerque (NM) now has a broadband office
For the city of Albuquerque (NM), providing high-quality and affordable internet is a priority. The majority of households are connected, but that doesn’t mean everybody that needs it has it and it doesn’t mean it’s affordable or reliable. Albuquerque needs more competition, more providers, better infrastructure to fill in the gaps and more affordable options. What the broadband office is dong to fill in those gaps is:
Consolidated Public-Private Partnership Gets Set to Reach Vermont Broadband Milestone
Consolidated Communications expects to complete work by November 1, 2023 on a Vermont broadband deployment project funded, in part, by the state. The project is being done through a public-private partnership with the Southern Vermont (SoVT) communications union district (CUD). When completed, that CUD will be the first in the state to achieve universal broadband coverage. The SoVT CUD received a $9 million grant from the Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB) in October 2022.
The Need for Speed: Rural Users Tend to Have Slower Internet Connections
As the federal government, along with states, gets ready to make a once-in-a-lifetime investment in broadband infrastructure, the concept of the digital divide remains somewhat the same as it was back in the mid-1990s, when the term was coined.
Missouri BEAD funds a testament to underserved population
Missouri was among the lucky winners of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, receiving the third highest allocation at $1.74 billion. But whether that amount will be more than enough or just right to cover all unserved and underserved locations is “the ultimate question,” said BJ Tanksley, director of Missouri’s Office of Broadband Development. “I think the thing about this is it also is a call to us, there’s just a lot of work to be done across the state.” Tanksley said that while Missouri “always predicted” it would receive a relatively high BEAD allotment, the stat
Convergence occurring 'at an unprecedented pace,' NCTA's new CTO says
Policies, regulations and standards governing video and broadband remain vitally important to the "cable" industry. But the cable industry is now keeping close tabs on other critical areas that weave into the broader telecommunications sector as cable operators move rapidly into mobile and wireless and explore ways to fully converge their networks and services. Meanwhile, those same operators must also get engaged with standards and policies focused on new and emerging categories such as cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI). That's all to say that Dr.