New York State legislators recently put a stop to personalized social media feeds for the under 18 set, citing mental health harms. The law they passed takes an unusual approach to the challenging task of regulating social media by focusing on algorithms, rather than platforms or specific content. Lawmakers say the algorithms are addictive. Research agrees—mostly.
Lifeline and the now defunct Affordable Connectivity Program have helped millions of families afford Internet services that support online learning, remote work, and access to telehealth, among many other uses linked to social and economic wellbeing. However, individuals and families entitled to receive these benefits often have to navigate a complex web of procedures to demonstrate eligibility, enroll in the program and receive services.
Connecting the dots of recent research suggests a new future for traditional websites:
Charter and Cable One are planning to raise internet prices this summer—news that comes after both companies announced a batch of layoffs. Charter plans to raise the internet base price on all plans by $3 monthly (or $4 for legacy plans). Those rates will take effect in July. As for Cable One, it is increasing Sparklight high-speed internet rates by $5 per month effective July 1.
Vermont Community Broadband Board has awarded a $20.2 million construction grant to Communications Union District (CUD) Northwest Fiberworx. The grant was awarded at VCBB’s May meeting and comes from the Broadband Construction Program, a State of Vermont grant funded with American Rescue Plan Act dollars.
The Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau announced a settlement to resolve its investigation into whether Verizon Wireless violated FCC rules by failing to deliver 911 calls during an outage in December 2022, in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. As Congress and the Commission have found, robust and reliable 911 service is a critical national priority. Those calling first responders must be able to rely on their calls being completed.
The Federal Communications Commission's Broadband Data Task Force announced that the fifth Broadband Data Collection (BDC) filing window for submitting broadband availability and other data as of June 30, 2024, will open on July 1, 2024. In addition, the June 2024 update (Version 5) of the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric (Fabric) is being made available to existing Fabric licensees in advance of the opening of the window.
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