Op-Ed

The 1990s were the decade that made the Internet. And the law that ushered in the greatest change was the landmark Telecommunications Act of 1996, Public Law 104–104 (TA96). In February of 1996, TA96 passed in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S.

Currently, the Federal Communications Commission is trying to figure out how to operationalize the Emergency Broadband Benefit program, and early in Jan 2021 released a Notice of Inquiry to ask for public comments. While we applaud the Benefit Program, the FCC must ensure the eligibility and enrollment requirements are streamlined and build a path to make the benefit permanent through Lifeline. The FCC must not only clarify but take the lead on three key points: eligibility, responsibility, sustainability.

All over the country people in the over 65-year-old age group are having issues registering to receive the vaccine. As states and municipalities launch rollouts through shiny portals on their websites, it appears that the seemingly mundane issue of basic internet use and access threatens to bring vaccine distribution to a halt in many communities. This goes beyond technical bugs, or even the ‘usability’ of the websites. It’s about access — to the hardware, to the software, to the knowledge of how to interact with technology, to a robust internet connection and to Wi-Fi.

Relying on Sec 230, tech companies increasingly pull the plug on disfavored posts, websites, and even people. Online moderation can be valuable, but this censorship is different. It harms Americans’ livelihoods, muzzles them in the increasingly electronic public square, distorts political and cultural conversations, influences elections, and limits our freedom to sort out the truth for ourselves. But does the 1996 Communications Decency Act really justify Big Tech censorship?

The time is long past for Congress to adopt outgoing Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai’s recommendation: Move the universal service program on-budget, which will shore up its precarious financial state and cure many of the real or perceived problems with the existing program. Some have suggested expanding the revenue base to include broadband access. An alternative proposal floated by state utilities commissioners would have replaced the existing surcharge with a per-number tax on residential lines and a revenue-based tax on commercial telephone revenue.

The Trump administration did little to address the digital divide. The Biden administration and the new Congress have an opportunity to do better. A study by the New Center suggests:

As I saw President Joe Biden sworn in, my mind went back to the Senate as I knew it in the 1970s. It was a better place then. Don’t get me wrong, it was far from perfect. But there was civility, cooperation, an ability to listen rather than simply bloviate, willingness to cross the aisle on issues and votes, and, importantly, pride in the institution of the Senate. Members spent time together, traveled together, went to one another’s homes for dinner, across party lines.

As the nation grapples with the violent insurrection fueled by President Trump’s lies and divisive rhetoric, as well as a surging pandemic and economic upheaval, the local broadcast media’s job of providing communities with reliable news and information has never been more important. Communities deserve a diverse array of voices and perspectives in the media on critical issues such as economic and racial justice and investigative reporting that holds power accountable. Who owns and presents the media matters.

Two judges on the Third US Circuit Court of Appeals have spent the past 17 years blocking a congressionally mandated modernization of antiquated broadcast-television regulations. The Supreme Court will hear an appeal on Jan 19, FCC v.

Now is time for the Federal Communications Commission to restructure its fixed broadband definitions so that they better reflect consumer demand and market realities and are more resilient to the accelerating pace of technological change. In addition, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development (Broadband Commission) should lead an effort to develop globally-harmonized and future-proof broadband definitions, that do not continually relegate people in some countries to second class connectivity.