Jack Karsten

The emergence of fifth generation (5G) mobile networks is elevating the need for stakeholders to assess infrastructure and cost inclusivity in order to address this digital divide. Communities of color, who often find themselves on the wrong side of the divide, are poised to benefit from 5G technologies that enable internet of things (IoT) applications in health care, education, transportation, and energy. However, this outcome is contingent on stakeholder buy-in, advocacy, and programming of intentional diversity initiatives.

A string of controversies in recent years involving tech companies has led many observers to call for stronger antitrust enforcement and a tougher competition policy. A new addition to this public demand comes from an unlikely source: In Nov 2018, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case brought by Apple to dismiss a lawsuit from Robert Pepper and three other iPhone owners. The defendants in Apple Inc. v. Pepper accuse the company of acting like a monopolist by controlling which apps to publish in its app store, taking a cut of sales, and prohibiting other app distributors.

As our economy becomes increasingly digitized, more transactions are moving online and outside of local tax jurisdictions, costing states billions in lost sales tax revenue. The recent Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair has opened the door for states to collect sales tax on online purchases made at out-of-state businesses. Applying state taxes on interstate commerce could not only recover lost revenues, but also make national e-commerce companies more invested in state government.

The higher speeds of fifth-generation (5G) wireless networks will enable connected cars, telemedicine, and the broader internet of things. Preparing for next-generation networks and their many applications will require upgrading existing wired infrastructure and freeing up wireless spectrum.

As citizens increasingly use digital tools to engage with government, federal agencies should weed out fake comments to create a more robust public comment system. If agencies are required to solicit public input, it should take on a form that the agency can easy incorporate into new rules. The Administrative Procedures Act could not have anticipated the digital communications tools available to citizens seven decades later. An updated method of collecting feedback would require commenters to verify their identity, or at least verify they are human.

Beyond communication, smartphones have become indispensable for everything from banking to transportation in the decade since the launch of the iPhone. Through mobile broadband or Wi-Fi, smartphones deliver internet access that is increasingly important in today’s economy. The devices can also improve healthcare outcomes by reminding patients of their appointments and treatments. Given the ability of smartphones to connect users to government services, lawmakers should consider making them more widely available.

The public interest standard has governed broadcast radio and television since Congress passed the Radio Act of 1927. However, decades of successive court cases and updated telecommunications laws have done little to clarify what falls into the public interest. The Radio Act gave local broadcasters monopolies over specific channels of electromagnetic spectrum to reduce interference on public airwaves. In exchange for control over a limited resource, the text of the law instructs broadcasters to operate in the “public interest, convenience, and necessity”. A recently released paper by Center for Technology Innovation Nonresident Senior Fellow Stuart N. Brotman outlines the legislative, judicial, and regulatory history of this public interest standard and offers some recommendations for how it might be reformed.

On Feb 1, Center for Technology Innovation fellow Nicol Turner-Lee moderated a panel discussion at Brookings with Commissioner Mignon Clyburn of the Federal Communications Commission and Commissioner Terrell McSweeny of the Federal Trade Commission that focused on what they would like to see as the primary agendas for these agencies going forward.

The commissioners expressed their views of how their agencies will proceed with pending decisions on network neutrality, consumer privacy, and expanding broadband internet access, along with potential challenges to each agency’s authority. Commissioner Clyburn asserted the importance of creating a more competitive and open broadband marketplace that increases access and availability for underserved populations. She also described a regulatory environment that advances new technologies, such as fifth generation (5G) wireless technology, in both rural and urban communities.

Perhaps the greatest promise of the internet of things is the insights to be gained from a flood of data provided by ubiquitous, wirelessly connected sensors. On Jan 9, this promise came closer to reality when Uber announced the launch of a new website that will display traffic data in the cities where it operates. The new website, Uber Movement, will display traffic volumes in different city zones based on anonymized data from Uber drivers’ smartphone applications. This website aims to make urban transportation more efficient by providing current data on traffic patterns. Ultimately, this practice could expand beyond the transportation sector and lead to both greater private sector data sharing along with greater data-driven policymaking.

The Trump campaign of 2016 will doubtlessly go down as one of the most dramatic and sensational in history, especially considering Trump’s tendency to spark national controversy on Twitter. Although the president-elect’s style of social media usage is of a kind highly unusual in the political sphere, the rising importance of digital media in presidential campaigns cannot be solely attributed to one candidate. The use of social media as a major campaign strategy was first pioneered by President Barack Obama in the 2008 election and was repeated successfully in 2012. His strategy encompassed a range of elements, including Facebook, online fundraising, and a YouTube channel, paired with more traditional forms of outreach via phone and direct mail.

The millennial generation (those born between 1981 and 1998) has been a driving force behind the rise of social media and is attributed with tipping the scales in President Obama’s favor both election cycles. Given that social media has become an integral component of the political process during a time of dramatic polarization, there is a concern that the digital world has become a means to filter out opposing opinions from one’s personal online universe – creating an “echo chamber.” Data from the Pew Research Center reveal that the echo chamber is not necessarily born of a refusal to consider opposing viewpoints, but has developed out of the negative political climate and of the desire to avoid confrontation.