Federal

Project 2025: What a second Trump term could mean for media and technology policies

Project 2025 echoes Donald Trump’s critical view of the media. As a result, it proposes to strip public broadcasting of its funding and legal status, thus endangering access to reliable news for American citizens. The authors allege that Big Tech colluded with the government to attack American values and advance “wokeism.” In response, they envision sweeping antitrust enforcement not on economic grounds, but for socio-political reasons.

Joint Statement on Competition in Generative AI Foundation Models and AI Products

As competition authorities for the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, we share a commitment to the interests of our people and economies. Guided by our respective laws, we will work to ensure effective competition and the fair and honest treatment of consumers and businesses.

Biden-Harris Administration Approves Utah, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands’ “Internet for All” Initial Proposals

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved Utah, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands’ Initial Proposals for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris Administration’s “Internet for All” initiative. This approval enables Utah, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S.

Congress Wants to Know if Twitter is Blocking Vice President Harris

I write to bring to your attention a serious and time-sensitive censorship issue occurring on the social media platform X. Numerous users have recently reported being blocked from following Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign handle @KamalaHQ in the past two days, following the news that President Biden will not seek re-election and that he has endorsed Vice President Harris as a candidate for President. As you know, Vice President Harris is now a bona fide candidate for President of the United States in the 2024 elections.

February 22, 2024 AT&T Mobility Network Outage Report and Findings

A report detailing the cause and impact of a nationwide AT&T wireless service outage on February 22, 2024, that lasted at least 12 hours and prevented customers from using voice and data services, including blocking more than 92 million phone calls and more than 25,000 attempts to reach 911. Key findings include:

Sen Warren Leads Senate Response to End of Chevron Doctrine

After a Supreme Court stacked with Trump-appointed justices overturned the 40-year-old Chevron deference doctrine, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Edward Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced the Stop Corporate Capture Act (SCCA). The SCCA codifies the Chevron doctrine and strengthens the rulemaking process to block corporations from hijacking our government. The legislation would:

Memorandum of Understanding Regarding Information Sharing Between FCC, USAD, NTIA, and the US Treasury

The  Federal Communications Commission, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Covered Agencies) agree as follows:

Broadband Director: Vermont Forges Its Own Path on Rural Funding

Christine Hallquist was well-qualified to serve as the Executive Director of the Vermont broadband office when Governor Phil Scott appointed her to the position in 2021.

Broadband expansion is no high-speed fix

They say Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither is broadband. One in five New Mexicans don’t have reliable high-speed internet at a time when such technology is a necessity, not a luxury. It’s imperative that constituents, households, businesses and other entities have broadband that delivers telehealth, distance learning, government services, job creation, economic growth and other vital services. Throughout New Mexico—particularly in rural areas and the 23 tribal communities—lack of accessible and reliable internet continues to hinder people from getting online.

AI companies promised to self-regulate one year ago. What’s changed?

On July 21, 2023, seven leading AI companies—Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI—committed with the White House to a set of eight voluntary commitments on how to develop AI in a safe and trustworthy way. These included promises to do things like improve the testing and transparency around AI systems, and share information on potential harms and risks. On the first anniversary of the voluntary commitments, the tech sector has made some welcome progress, with big caveats.  Companies are doing more  to pursue technical fixes such as red-teaming (