Diversity

The Biden administration is launching its first big effort on privacy policy by looking at how data privacy issues affect civil rights. An administration perspective on privacy policy could be key in developing a long-awaited national privacy law by putting the White House stamp on how to regulate privacy.

In the United States’ jails and prisons, many incarcerated people are charged steep fees to make phone calls to the outside world. The correctional telecom industry rakes in more than $1.4 billion annually from prisoner phone calls.

The digital divide facing tribal communities is stark and has remained pronounced despite the best efforts of advocacy groups and tribes themselves to help Indigenous people get online.

The Federal Communications Commission proposed an enhanced competition incentive program to encourage licensees to offer opportunities for small carriers and Tribal Nations to obtain spectrum via lease, partition, or

The US Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has awarded the first three grants as part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program. These initial awards, totaling nearly $1.4 million, are being made to the Taos Pueblo (NM), the Upper Mattaponi Tribe (VA), and the Sokaogon Chippewa Community (WI). Two of the grants will support the provision of broadband services, computers, and digital skills training to tribal members and one will fund a tribal broadband planning project.

Ten organizations receiving funding through The Town Link, a program that aims to improve digital equity in Oakland (CA) will be offering various trainings over the next year to improve digital inclusion and literacy within their communities. The organizations will each receive $10,000 to inform residents about affordable broadband plans, pay for computers and tablets, and then teach them the necessary skills to use those devices. The campaigns are to be complete by fall 2022.

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Community Informatics Lab at Simmons University, and Black Brilliance Research Project (BBR) launched the six-city Digital Equity Action Research (DEAR) Fellowship. The DEAR Fellowship is a participatory action research program for young adults, ages 19-24, that helps examine how digital inclusion coalitions understand and address the root causes of digital inequities in their communities. The fellowship started in November 2021 and will conclude with a celebration and community event in mid-January 2022.

Diversity groups urged the Federal Communications Commission to start now to bake equity into 6G wireless. In a November 8 letter to FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, the groups, led by Multicultural Media, Telecom & Internet Council (MMTC) and including Rainbow PUSH, the NAACP and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, asked that the FCC take these five steps to ensure the delivery of affordable and accessible services to communities of color:

The US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) announced more than $1 billion in funding to promote meaningful broadband access in rural, Tribal, and socially vulnerable communities. The RUS has set aside $350 million in grant funding for Tribal governments and socially vulnerable communities to build 100/100 Mbps future-proof networks.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will not just build broadband networks, it aims to ensure that every American can use reliable high-speed internet service. The Digital Equity Act of 2021 allocates $2.75 billion to the states for digital inclusion planning and the implementation of those plans. Key definitions of digital equity, digital inclusion, and covered populations are included in the new Digital Equity Act. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act also created the State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program and the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program.