A blueprint for cities and counties to expand Internet access by leveraging a municipally-enabled, middle-mile fiber backbone without bearing the full burden of infrastructure costs. The approach could help bridge the persistent digital divide affecting numerous communities nationwide. Drawing on case studies from Fort Worth and Lake Cities (TX), and Joplin (MO) Middle Mile as a Catalyst highlights the efficacy of following this approach. In addition to the case studies, Middle Mile as a Catalyst outlines the critical elements for municipalities to consider when investing in middle-mile fiber:  

1. Assess broadband needs: identify unreliable service areas, outdated infrastructure, and barriers to digital literacy and device affordability. 
2. Build local support: endorsements from grassroots movements and elected officials can help secure necessary funding and build a strong case for implementation and deployment. 
3. Engage stakeholders: it is crucial to keep the community leaders informed and involved, especially any advocate stakeholders that can champion and guide the project from conception to completion. 
4. Make a financial plan: allocate capital funds efficiently and adopt outcome-based procurement to tailor to the community’s specific broadband solution needs. 
5. Create clear goals: set clear goals throughout the project—ensure comprehensive articulation of needs and assets and follow a learning-oriented approach to procurement.

Broadband champions can be the decisive factors in efforts to improve community connectivity. The work of broadband champions has been shaped by the particularities of their broadband contexts: the local political will, the existing providers, the topography, and the wide-ranging motivations and strategies. What they have in common is their dedication, which has proved to be crucial in helping their communities get high-speed broadband. Since June 2023, I have published six profiles from various Michigan communities, showcasing how eight broadband champions adapted to the distinct needs and situations of their communities. Today, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society published Could It Be Me? Should It Be Me? Understanding What Makes Broadband Champions, the results of my examination to understand the stories of broadband community champions and the factors that contributed to their success. This analysis categorizes the champions based on traits and actions such as technical expertise, formal roles, and leadership self-identification. We have classified their activities based on how they educated, communicated, and inspired stakeholders, collaborators, and the community. This report examines the broadband champions, drawing from the research presented in the previously published profiles. Analyzing across the profiles, I developed a taxonomy of the different kinds of broadband champions: connectors, multipliers, and visionaries.

The Washington State Public Works Board (PWB) recently approved $21 million in critical infrastructure projects in 10 communities for broadband construction, pre-construction, and emergency funding. Taking action at its May 3, 2024 business meeting, the PWB approved $20 million to expand broadband access in unserved communities, $550,000 for two pre-construction projects, and two emergency infrastructure projects for $514,500. These broadband projects will expand service in Island, Jefferson, Klickitat, Okanogan, and Spokane counties to an estimated 6,000 unserved end user locations, such as homes, businesses, farms, and community anchor institutions:

• Jefferson Public Utility District No. 1: $4 million in broadband construction match funding ($2.8 million loan and $1.2 million grant) for the Northeast Olympic FTTP project. The investment will assist with construction cost increases associated with a prior awards by the Washington State Broadband Office. When complete, the projects will provide approximately 377 miles of fiber for 3,222 end users located in areas of Quilcene, Sequim, Port Townsend, Port Hadlock, Chimacum, and Nordland.
• Klick Networks, LLC:  $800,000 in broadband construction funding ($560,000 loan and $240,000 grant) for the Trout Lake FTTH project to design and construct approximately 15 miles of fiber to expand service availability to nearly 400 end users in the Trout Lake area.
• Okanogan County Electric Cooperative: $5 million in broadband construction funding ($3.5 million loan and $1.5 million grant) for the Okanogan County Connect Phase Two project to construct approximately 42 miles of fiber and expand service availability to 244 end users in the Methow Valley area.
• Okanogan Public Utility District No. 1: $3.8 million in broadband construction funding ($2.66 million loan and $1.14 million grant) for the Conconully FTTx project to expand approximately 22 miles of middle mile infrastructure from Conconully to the PUD’s existing fiber network and service availability to 367 end users.
• Spokane Regional Broadband Development Authority: $2 million in broadband construction funding loan for the South Spokane County Rural Towns Open Access Mid-mile Connectivity project to design and construct approximately 21 miles of fiber to 500 unserved premises in the rural Southeast Spokane County towns of Spangle, Waverly, and Fairfield.
• Whidbey Telephone Company: $4,494,620 in broadband construction funding ($3,730,037 loan and $764,547 grant) for the 2024 Clinton project to design and construct approximately 44 miles of middle and last mile infrastructure, and expand service availability to nearly 1,536 end users in the Clinton area.

Linda Willey, who delivered a keynote address discussing the state of the multifamily industry on behalf of the National Multifamily Housing Council at the Broadband Communities Summit, said a current Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposal to ban bulk billing offers a “serious threat for industry operations and the future of affordable broadband access for residents.” Out of over 92,600 units offered at Camden’s properties, Willey said less than .05 percent of residents moved out because of the bulk technology packages offered by Camden, according to recent data from the company. The technology packages offered by Camden include community-wide Wi-Fi, which Willey said is used to enforce the company’s sustainability efforts, monitoring everything from water usage to energy consumption, which is tracked by using smart thermostats. “So, the services are working,” Willey said. “Bulk billing is not deterring our residents’ ability to move into our communities.” Willey said the multifamily industry will need to stand united to oppose the FCC proposal to ban bulk billing, which has also found support from the White House.

Popular narratives characterising neoliberal economic orthodoxy hold that all forms of government intervention are counter-productive to free markets.  Conservatives who claim to embody such liberalism often trace opposition to government interventions to two founding Chicago School economists, Friedrich August von Hayek and Milton Friedman. Through close examinations of the seminal works from Hayek and Friedman, this paper complicates the relationship between the “free-market” neoliberal economic imaginaries derived from both economists’ seminal books as “utopian neoliberalism”, and modern commercial-focused telecommunications policies premised on the active construction of industry serving conditions as “political neoliberalism”. In examining the CONNECT Act aimed at banning the municipal deployment of broadband services in every state across America, this analysis demonstrates significant differences between “utopian” and “political” articulations of neoliberalism, with the latter appearing to ground language and justifications in the former, while simultaneously contradicting baseline principles of such. The seemingly baseless motivations behind the contradictory logics of political neoliberalism are critically assessed and the role of corporate domination of the US telecommunications sector as a guiding philosophy for neoliberal policymakers is discussed.

The U.S. is in an era of high-stakes technology development. From artificial intelligence to semiconductor manufacturing, whoever leads in innovation will lead the world in economic growth and national security.  The Biden-Harris Administration is taking a comprehensive approach to advancing network infrastructure through the [Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act], the CHIPS and Science Act, NTIA’s Wireless Innovation Fund (established under that Act), and other federal grant programs....  When it comes to the wireless space, the U.S. has always been the leader. We need clear and bold spectrum policies to stay that way. I am proud to say our National Spectrum Strategy delivers those policies. The starting point—our first pillar—is building a spectrum pipeline so that wireless providers, users, and others have the tools they need to compete and innovate.... The Strategy also calls for stronger coordination among all spectrum stakeholders going forward—not just for these key spectrum studies, but across all future decision-making involving federal and non-federal spectrum use.... The third pillar of the Strategy calls for the development of new and innovative spectrum-based technologies, including Dynamic Spectrum Sharing.... The fourth and final pillar of the National Spectrum Strategy calls for the creation of a national spectrum workforce plan to grow the ecosystem of spectrum experts.... The U.S. is in the midst of an intense competition for global leadership in wireless technologies. We need to be smart, we need to be strategic, we need to be collaborative. And we need to be evidence-based. And, importantly, we need the help of Congress. We need spectrum auction authority restored by Congress.

TikTok and its parent company ByteDance challenged the US government in a legal filing on May 7 over a new law forcing the sale or ban of the social media giant, igniting a high-stakes court battle in Washington that could prove to be an existential fight for one of the world’s most popular apps. President Biden signed a law in April demanding that China-based ByteDance sell TikTok within a year or be banned across the United States, arguing that the Chinese government could use the app to spy on Americans or secretly shape public opinion. But the companies in their petition for review contend that the law violates the First Amendment rights of its 170 million US accounts in an “extraordinary and unconstitutional assertion of power” based on vaguely expressed national security concerns.

Meta Platforms is urging a federal appellate court to reconsider a recent 2-1 decision allowing Facebook and Instagram advertisers to proceed with a class-action fraud lawsuit over inflated metrics. In papers filed on May 3 with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Meta says the panel ruling doesn't “make any sense in a case like this,” given that the class of affected advertisers includes entities ranging from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses to government agencies. Meta adds that the ruling will make it “virtually impossible” for defendants in other lawsuits to oppose class-action certification. Meta's latest papers come in a battle dating to 2018, when business owner Danielle Singer alleged in a class-action complaint that Facebook induced advertisers to purchase more ads, and pay more for them, by overstating the number of users who might see the ads. The initial complaint cited a report by the industry organization Video Advertising Bureau, which said in 2017 that Facebook's estimates of audience reach in every US state were higher than the states' populations. The advertisers added in an amended complaint filed in 2020 that Facebook employees were aware of complaints about the potential reach metric since September 2015.

Press freedom around the world is being threatened by the very people who should be its guarantors—political authorities. This is clear from the latest annual World Press Freedom Index produced by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). This finding is based on the fact that, of the five indicators used to compile the ranking, it is the political indicator that has fallen most, registering a global average fall of 7.6 points. A growing number of governments and political authorities are not fulfilling their role as guarantors of the best possible environment for journalism and for the public's right to reliable, independent, and diverse news and information. RSF sees a worrying decline in support and respect for media autonomy and an increase in pressure from the state or other political actors. At the international level, this year is notable for a clear lack of political will on the part of the international community to enforce the principles of protection of journalists, especially UN Security Council Resolution 2222. The war in Gaza has been marked by a record number of violations against journalists and the media since October 2023. More than 100 Palestinian reporters have been killed by the Israel Defense Forces, including at least 22 in the course of their work.