Internet/Broadband

[Commentary] President Donald Trump’s recent Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) decision is a case study in the consequences of writing law through executive order. If congressional leadership does not take action, then network neutrality will meet DACA’s same fate.

Americans must demand that Congress provide pragmatic, bipartisan and sustainable solutions for DACA, net neutrality, and many other pressing issues confronting our country.

[Garrett Johnson is co-founder of Lincoln Network, a national community of technology professionals]

A Q&A with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai.

He has made it a priority to increase the availability of broadband internet access across America. But the regulations that telecom companies say are preventing them from investing in broadband infrastructure are the ones that also ensure net neutrality. Critics say the trade-off isn't worth it. Chairman Pai wants to use federal subsidies and slash regulations to try to encourage broadband providers to expand their infrastructure.

Here’s what Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai refuses to admit: by every conceivable measure Title II network neutrality is working.

There’s no real partisan divide or controversy about the need for net neutrality outside of Washington’s political circles and lobbying shops. In our reply to the FCC, we once again explained the history and importance of the net neutrality protections that fostered innovation and investment throughout the last twenty years — both before and after they were put on the right legal footing in 2015. We took down the ludicrous claims of companies like AT&T that they do not provide telecommunications services to the public. And we showed how at every turn these companies have telegraphed their intentions to thwart the Net Neutrality rules and offer worse service if the rules are overturned. The millions of comments in this proceeding is what it looks like when real people understand the stakes of policy decisions in Washington and participate in our democracy. In his crusade to roll back the rules Chairman Pai has chosen to ignore all available evidence about broadband deployment and ISP spending, along with millions of comments from the public. He hasn’t been able to state a single logical reason why the existing Title II Net Neutrality rules should be overturned. The Commission should wake up and listen, instead of refusing to address irregularities in the public commenting process while resorting to gimmicks to delegitimize and squelch the voices of concerned people.

Next Century Cities released a playbook on tech-powered civic engagement detailing lessons learned over the past year among its three Benton Next Generation Engagement Award winners: Austin (TX), Louisville (KY) and Raleigh (NC). The Washington, D.C.-based broadband advocacy group wants the guide to serve as a checklist for cities’ future projects. Communities are encouraged to engage all stakeholders in a civic tech project area, collaborate across sectors and have their approach match project function.

Modern technology is helping soldiers push to the limits of their physical capabilities on the battlefield, but advancements in communication and assimilation of data still rely on a 1990s-era legacy premise: a networked connection to a military data center. Today’s battlefields require significant information processing capabilities, such as the sending of images, videos and sensor data, yet extensive data processing and exchange relies on dependable network connections and bandwidth capabilities that don’t always exist. This is a problem the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency—the Defense Department’s research arm—has grappled with for years, but recent contract awards through its dispersed computing (DCOMP) program may be the first steps the U.S. military takes toward mitigating this problem.

In the spacious corridor of a trendy co-working space on Pittsburgh’s North Side, Michael Shenck runs through a list of all the ways his real estate startup, Ikos, uses the internet each day. “We are collecting a lot of market data to help better inform investors and all of that communication is over the internet, and also how we coordinate with insiders, our gig economy workforce,” Shenck explained. “It’s pretty critical to the flow of our workforce.” Ikos is a year-old business that connects landlords and renters, first virtually and then in-person. Without a fast website to facilitate that communication, Shenck, who is the vice president of engineering, said his company couldn’t operate. He said tech startups like his rely on the concept of net neutrality in order to succeed.

BendBroadband spokeswoman DeAnne Boegli said she’s not sure exactly how the Open Internet Order discourages capital investment by internet service providers. The company’s goal is to build a network with top speeds of 600 megabits per second to 1 gigabit per second, “so people don’t have those issues and can have unfettered access to the internet,” she said. Anyone whose business relies on internet traffic is watching this debate, said Lewis Howell, founder of the Bend startup Hueya.io, which makes software that helps consumers monitor their online privacy. “What they’re wanting to say is, ‘It’s our network,’” Howell said. But broadband is more than one company’s means of delivering cable television or web content, he said. “This is a utility everyone has a right to access freely and openly,” Howell said.

Commissioned by the Cleveland Foundation, this report’s purpose is to guide the Foundation's staff and partners as they strategically determine how best to dedicate resources toward digital literacy, internet access and broad technological empowerment. The Cleveland Foundation’s Digital Excellence Initiative aims to position Greater Cleveland as a leader in digital innovation and access by investing in efforts that align with the five focus areas of the foundation’s Digital Excellence Initiative:
Creating a more connected community
Supporting digital skills development
Improving digital civic engagement
Elevating regional digital leadership
Encouraging technology innovation for social good

Despite the continued proliferation of the internet and new digital devices, many low-income communities still lack internet access. Slightly less than half of all households with incomes under $20,000 reported having internet access in the Census Bureau’s most recent American Community Survey. By comparison, about 93 percent of wealthier households with annual incomes exceeding $75,000 were connected. Places where low-income households are least connected are most common throughout rural regions of the South and Appalachia. Higher costs of living might explain differences in other regions of the country, where housing or utility expenses leave households with little income to spare. Demographics further contribute to regional disparities as families of Hispanic immigrants have lower internet adoption rates, as do heads of households over age 65.

Public interest watchdogs are concerned about a proposed merger that could have big implications for rural broadband as it nears the regulatory finish line. CenturyLink’s $34 billion deal to acquire Level 3 Communications would create a potentially formidable competitor to AT&T in the telecommunications market to handle heavy internet traffic for businesses. But opponents say it would hurt broadband access for rural providers by eliminating access to wholesale rates for critical fiber connections to the internet backbone — the high-speed transmission lines that connect users’ various internet service providers to each other.

Level 3 Communications is the sixth largest provider of fiber in the United States by volume and has a broad footprint, with availability across the country. It’s also, notably, a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC). If approved, the merger would give CenturyLink, one of the largest incumbents, ownership of Level 3’s valuable fiber assets, which are currently available at wholesale rates — but may not be if they come under CenturyLink’s control.