In July 2022, the Biden Administration invested over 18 million dollars to expand internet access in remote areas of North Dakota. Now we’re learning about the 81-year-old farmer who got the ball rolling and is a big reason why over 1000 residents and nearly 100 farms are now poised to have high-speed internet for the first time. Cory Herman, a field representative for the Department of Agriculture, worked on securing the grant from the USDA’s ReConnect Program for almost two years after Joe Paulson contacted Senator John Hoeven’s office for help in getting internet at his farm. Joe Paulson was dogged in his determination to get service, calling Herman every time he saw an announcement of a new grant and asking if it might be for his farm. “I’m 81 years-old but believe me the internet is as extremely important to us older folks as it is to all the younger ones and I’m just so happy to hear that more schools and families are going to be able to participate in this,” Paulson said. “It was really a surprise when he (Herman) called and said that it was gonna happen.”

Since the EdConnect program launched in 2020, more than 16,000 low-income students in Hamilton County, Tennessee, and 28,000 of their family members have received free internet in their homes. The effort works to close the digital divide and involves parents more in the education of their children. In providing universal internet access to students and parents, EdConnect effectively eliminated disparities between which families engaged with schools and which didn't. Parents have the option to enroll to EdConnect via phone, an online form, a paper form and other ways depending on the school. Eligible students include those receiving free or reduced-cost lunch, those who attend a school where every student receives free or reduced-cost lunch or whose family participates in federal nutrition programs or receives other economic assistance. Students are eligible for the EdConnect for up to 10 years, or the entirety of their time at Hamilton County Schools. 

DigitalC has teamed up with Meta to make high-speed internet available to residents of four public housing developments in Cleveland. The partnership includes the funding, installation and delivery of fixed wireless internet services that will support more than 1,000 households with low-cost, high-speed internet. As part of DigitalC’s mission-driven, fixed wireless internet service, EmpowerCLE+, and Meta’s efforts to help expand and improve connectivity, more than 1,530 Cleveland households have been connected to broadband service across the Cleveland metro region. 

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is asking the public to weigh in on whether new rules are needed to protect people’s privacy and information in the commercial surveillance economy. Commercial surveillance is the business of collecting, analyzing, and profiting from information about people. Technologies essential to everyday life also enable near-constant surveillance of people’s private lives. The FTC's Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) asks a series of questions about practices related to commercial surveillance and data security. This ANPR has alluded to only a fraction of the potential consumer harms arising from lax data security or commercial surveillance practices, including those concerning physical security, economic injury, psychological harm, reputational injury, and unwanted intrusion. Anyone from the public can submit a comment weighing in on the rulemaking, the general topics, or a specific question. The link to submit comments to the Federal Register will be posted as soon as it is available.