Op-Ed

You might think it could never happen here in the United States. But think again. To understand how, start with the Communications Act of 1934 — which, though it has been amended and updated several times, is essentially an 86-year-old law that is still the framework for US communications policy today.

The Trump Federal Communications Commission’s overzealous efforts to remove broadband providers from any obligations to protect internet users defies what Congress clearly intended for these critical communications services. Our national goal of achieving universal broadband service faces several roadblocks without the FCC’s Title II authority. The agency will also have difficulty upholding public safety if we don’t restore this crucial legal standard. These harms are already playing out. Feb.

We are now in the third generation talking about getting broadband out to all our citizens. We are nowhere near getting the job done. It’s a market failure. It’s a government failure. And it’s a national embarrassment. Big telcos and their allies at the Federal Communications Commission and Congress tell us all is well and we’re on track. Pretty long track! Make that claim in many of our inner cities like Baltimore, Milwaukee, and Newark and you will get laughed out of town.

In October 1944, my grandfather William B. Benton delivered a clarion call in the pages of Fortune magazine. On behalf of the Committee for Economic Development (CED), a national coalition of business leaders, he offered a forward-looking agenda to deliver a more peaceful and prosperous future for all Americans—not just a few. At the time, that future was difficult to imagine. Fifteen years prior, the Great Depression had roiled the American economy, driving unemployment rates to almost 25% in 1933.

Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg broke no law when he paid campaign workers $2,500 a month to promote his candidacy from their personal social media accounts without requiring them to disclose this sponsorship. After Twitter suspended 70 of these accounts for “platform manipulation,” his campaign voluntarily asked its workers to identify themselves on their social media accounts.

Technology now is creating and disrupting on shorter and shorter cycles.  It is breaking down old ways of doing business and introducing fresh competition. More than ever, technology is upending markets in which the status quo thrived for decades. In the face of all this change, however, some in government succumb to paralysis by analysis. This is a real danger that regulators—particularly those overseeing the telecom sector—must avoid.  While we rightly want to understand the impact that new technologies will have, too often “careful deliberation” is little more than code for indefinite in

I’m introducing new legislation to create a Data Protection Agency and bring the protection of your privacy and freedom into the digital age. The US must make an effort to take the lead and do something about data protection. The Data Protection Act would address this head-on. My legislation would establish an independent federal agency, the Data Protection Agency, that would serve as a “referee” to define, arbitrate, and enforce rules to defend the protection of our personal data. This agency would have three core missions:

For pregnant women in rural areas, local resources supporting maternal health may be strained, and the nearest hospital is often far away, putting mothers and their babies at serious risk. That’s why I was proud to join my colleagues, Sens Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Todd Young (R-IN), and Brian Schatz (D-HI) to introduce the bipartisan Data Mapping to Save Moms’ Lives Act. This legislation would require the Federal Communications Commission to use data mapping to identify areas in the US that have both internet access gaps as well as high rates of poor maternal outcomes.

Advanced broadband is a high-tech phenomenon of today. Farming is a practice that stretches back ten thousand years. Together, they can help fight the continuing impact of climate change. Today’s high-tech farming depends on data – from remote sensors, from tractors, irrigation equipment, nutrient application machinery, and harvesters that communicate.

Free Press Action released its 2020 Right to Connect Voter Guide, an analysis of presidential candidates’ positions on vital media and technology policies. It analyzes the positions of nine Democratic and Republican presidential candidates polling at 3 percent or above in recent national polls. Sens Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) stand out for their proposals to invest billions to expand internet access and rein in steep broadband prices that keep low-income families and people of color offline.