Op-Ed

As a lifelong disabled person who constantly copes with multiple conditions, I have a natural tendency to view emerging technologies with skepticism. Most new things are built for the majority of people—in this case, people without disabilities—and the truth of the matter is there’s no guarantee I’ll have access to them. AI could make these kinds of jumps in accessibility more common across a wide range of technologies.

The Democratic party’s presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris (D-CA), was never the border czar, despite her political opponents’ attempts to label her as such. If VP Harris has ever had a Biden administration czarship (although not with an official title) it was in artificial intelligence (AI). AI might lack the political resonance of the border today, but it is time we reconsider its significance to the average voter. When AI is recast as a sweeping change that could affect jobs, income equality, national security, and the rights of ordinary citizens, it is rather quickly tran

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals threw federal broadband policy into chaos recently by declaring the Universal Service Fund unconstitutional. The decision threatens to shut down the Federal Communications Commission’s longstanding system of collecting fees from telecommunications customers to subsidize rural broadband deployment and Internet access for low-income households, schools, and other programs. For years, policymakers have acknowledged the need to overhaul the USF because of its ballooning fees, potential for waste, and outdated priorities.

Between 2019 and 2021, the number of Ohioans working from home tripled, demonstrating the vital function of high-speed internet services like broadband in Ohio’s workforce. Additionally, remote learning, telemedicine and other online programs continue to thrive well after the pandemic.

In the coming months, more than $42 billion in federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) funds will be distributed among U.S. states and territories. Federal and state policymakers have key roles to play in supporting the efforts of the BEAD program. On the federal level, policymakers should focus on removing regulatory barriers rather than erecting new ones.

Republican or Democrat, one rare issue that can unite every American is the need to provide affordable internet connections to everyone. In today’s digital world, access to broadband internet means access to jobs, education, health care, and social opportunities.

Project 2025 echoes Donald Trump’s critical view of the media. As a result, it proposes to strip public broadcasting of its funding and legal status, thus endangering access to reliable news for American citizens. The authors allege that Big Tech colluded with the government to attack American values and advance “wokeism.” In response, they envision sweeping antitrust enforcement not on economic grounds, but for socio-political reasons.

They say Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither is broadband. One in five New Mexicans don’t have reliable high-speed internet at a time when such technology is a necessity, not a luxury. It’s imperative that constituents, households, businesses and other entities have broadband that delivers telehealth, distance learning, government services, job creation, economic growth and other vital services. Throughout New Mexico—particularly in rural areas and the 23 tribal communities—lack of accessible and reliable internet continues to hinder people from getting online.

That universal broadband access is a goal worth pursuing has become conventional wisdom. The risk of being elevated to conventional wisdom is that the root arguments bury themselves so deeply that alternate notions sprout and threaten them. While broadband access touches social, cultural, political, health-related and even spiritual elements of modern life, let’s focus on two: education and economics. That’s where the digital divide can do the most damage. Anyone who has hopped on to YouTube for an appliance repair or software how-to knows the value of instructional show-and-tell.

There’s been much handwringing this year over the prospect of defaults in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) program, but very little empirical analysis of the actual extent of default that has occurred to date or data-driven projections of what’s likely to occur in the future. It’s time to dig deeper to figure out what’s going on at the local level. The FCC authorized 379 companies to receive $6 billion in RDOF support over a ten-year term, covering just under 3.5 million locations in 48 states and one territory.