A look at how Tribal governments are using financial support through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to provide critical recovery assistance and improve the health and well-being of Tribal citizens. The $20 billion in ARPA State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) allocated to Tribal governments represents the largest single infusion of federal funding into Indian Country. The efforts highlighted reveal the vast and impressive reach SLFRF has had as a catalyst for recovery. For example, the Osage Nation is implementing a substantial broadband project to assist in telehealth, distance learning opportunities, affordable internet service, economic growth, and digital inclusion efforts where demands for internet access have grown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Departments of the Interior and Commerce and the Federal Communications Commission announced a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to advance electromagnetic spectrum access opportunities and the deployment of broadband and other wireless services on Tribal lands. Additionally, the Department of the Interior is establishing a new Office of Indigenous Communications and Technology (OICT) to assist Tribal Nations and Tribal entities in managing and developing new technological and wireless services on Tribal lands to advance true self-determination over digital resources. The new MOU will provide a framework to explore new opportunities to develop wireless services and intergovernmental coordination, including spectrum access and data exchange over Tribal lands, in support of Tribal political and economic self-determination in the digital era. OICT will focus on the facilitation of robust partnerships between Tribes and the tech industry that will advance new Tribal economic development initiatives, including electric vehicles, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) used for mapping, surveying and other services. Building upon the Interior Department’s unique role and fiduciary duty to manage Tribal lands and resources, OICT will also review new electromagnetic spectrum leasing opportunities to advance Tribal self-determination, help develop national Tribal broadband policy guidance through on-going, consistent intergovernmental coordination, and provide technical assistance for the establishment of wireless, digital and technological projects on Tribal lands and Native Hawaiian homelands.

Gov Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) announced a state partnership with national non-profit EducationSuperHighway to develop programs and implement best practices to address broadband affordability in the state. An estimated 214,760 Arkansas’ households have access to a home broadband connection but are offline because they can't afford to connect. This broadband affordability gap is the number one cause of the nation’s digital divide, keeps 18 million U.S. households offline, and disproportionately impacts low-income, Black, and Latino Americans. Over the past year, closing the broadband affordability gap has become a national priority. The Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA) allocated $65 billion to expand high-speed internet access. This includes $14.2 billion for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), a federal broadband benefit that provides eligible households with a monthly discount of up to $30 per month (up to $75 per month for households on qualifying Tribal lands) and a one-time $100 discount toward a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet. Over 600,000 Arkansas households are eligible for the ACP, yet only 124,000 (20% of those eligible) have enrolled. EducationSuperHighway will partner with the Arkansas State Broadband Office, housed within the Arkansas Department of Commerce, to plan, implement, and execute the Affordable Connectivity Program awareness and engagement campaign.

Just days after the Federal Communications Commission released an initial draft of a national map showing the availability of broadband internet, some groups are criticizing what they see as the map’s shortcomings. A letter from Public Knowledge dated Nov. 22 called for various improvements to the FCC’s mapping process, which it said had some “inaccuracies.” Public Knowledge said the procedures for states, local communities, and even individuals to challenge the broadband availability map needs to be clarified, as many stakeholders expressed “confusion” over the challenge process. The group also said that the FCC should better explain how it would use local challenges against speeds, if the reported speed on the map is not actually offered by internet service providers. The organization questioned the satellite broadband availability data, which it said “misleadingly indicates that the vast majority of the country is served.” Instead, Public Knowledge said the FCC should update its maps to provide a “more realistic picture of broadband availability.” While satellite internet has shown promise, the nonprofit said, in practice satellite providers cannot serve most locations in the country with broadband. Additionally, community institutions like schools and libraries were left off the FCC’s maps of residential service

Mozilla’s Firefox and Microsoft’s Edge said they would stop trusting new certificates from TrustCor Systems that vouched for the legitimacy of sites reached by their users, capping weeks of online arguments among their technology experts, outside researchers and TrustCor, which said it had no ongoing ties of concern. Other tech companies are expected to follow suit. “Certificate Authorities have highly trusted roles in the internet ecosystem and it is unacceptable for a CA to be closely tied, through ownership and operation, to a company engaged in the distribution of malware,” Mozilla’s Kathleen Wilson said. “Trustcor’s responses via their Vice President of CA operations further substantiates the factual basis for Mozilla’s concerns.” TrustCor has a small staff in Canada, where it is officially based at a UPS Store mail drop although the company has infrastructure in Arizona as well. Several technologists said that they found TrustCor evasive on basic matters such as legal domicile and ownership, which they said was inappropriate for a company wielding the power of a root certificate authority, which not only asserts that a secure, https website is not an impostor but can deputize other certificate issuers to do the same.

Approximately 400,000 households now subscribe to Starlink worldwide. Perhaps a victim of their own success, Starlink download speeds dropped once again in Canada (at least 14%) and the US (at least 17%) from Q2 to Q3 2022, while speeds remained roughly the same in Chile quarter over quarter. Starlink upload speeds remained roughly unchanged in all three countries we surveyed during Q3 2022, improving marginally in Canada and Chile, and essentially staying the same in the US. During the same period, fixed broadband performance raced ahead, improving at least 8% to 115.18 Mbps in Canada, at least 4% to 207.04 Mbps in Chile, and at least 8% to 164.13 Mbps in the US.

The most significant effect on political parties this year was the $16 billion estimated to have been spent on these elections, further entrenching the ability of big business and the special interests to have their way in Congress, the state houses, judgeship elections, and local community races. If we cannot find our way—very soon—to significantly reduce or eliminate the polluting and destructive power of money in our politics, democracy’s days are numbered. The US Senate is hardly poised to lead us to significant democratic reforms. One thing it can do, though, is confirm the many nominations still pending, so as finally to fill the many slots in the Administration that have remained empty for nearly two years now. One of these long-pending, non-confirmed nominations is Gigi Sohn for a Commissioner slot on the Federal Communications Commission. There is no excuse for the shabby treatment she has received at the hands of the Senate Commerce Committee. Senate Leadership should confirm her NOW.

[Michael Copps served as a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission from May 2001 to December 2011 and was the FCC's Acting Chairman from January to June 2009.]