Internet/Broadband

We gather today at a critical moment in the history of an Open Internet; in the fight for Net Neutrality. So, right here at the outset, let’s make clear something that will bear repeating throughout these remarks: An Open Internet is the law of the land and any change to that policy would take away from consumers, innovators and the competitive marketplace something they have today. The proof point that opponents to an Open Internet must hurdle is the factual basis for why it is necessary to remove existing protections? Those protections can be boiled down to one simple principle: Consumers must be in charge of how they use their broadband connections, free from manipulation by their broadband providers. Unfortunately, those of us who believe the internet should be fast, fair and open are in for a fight. The majority of the Trump Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Republicans in Congress, and the big broadband providers are ganging up on consumers. They mouth the words, “We support an open internet,” yet oppose meaningful protections of that openness. So let me say it again, the current effort is to take away protections that now exist. This is principally about four economically and politically powerful broadband providers – companies that control the connections to 70 percent of American homes – seeking to take something away from tens of millions of consumers and tens of thousands of entrepreneurial innovators. The Trump FCC’s ongoing proceeding to accomplish this is a sham, starting with its name. In the Orwellian world of alternative facts in which we now live, the FCC calls gutting the Open Internet: “Restoring Internet Freedom.” The only thing this effort frees are the broadband providers that escape from their obligations to consumers. The effort to repeal or revise the Open Internet rules is contrary to statute, and contrary to the facts demonstrating how broadband providers can, have, and will abuse their role as gatekeeper to the network that will define the 21st century. And the best its proponents can come up with to support their position are claims of reduced investment that add up to nothing more than special pleading by the biggest cable and telecommunications companies.
[Tom Wheeler is the Walter Shorenstein Fellow for Media and Democracy, Harvard Kennedy School; Visiting Fellow, Brookings Institution; and Klinsky Visiting Professor, Harvard Law School. He served at Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission November 2013 - January 2017.]

More than 52 percent of people on the planet still don't have Internet access. Men outnumber women as Web users in every region of the world. And there remain massive disparities in connection speeds in different countries. These are just some of the major findings outlined in a new United Nations report about the state of the world's Internet connections.

While average global Internet speeds are now 7.7 megabits per second, there is a gulf between the fastest and slowest. South Korea's average broadband speed is 28.6 Mbps, for instance, while Nigeria's is a paltry 1.5 Mbps. In fact, the report warns that "the 'digital divide' risks becoming a 'digital chasm' [due to] deepening inequality in global connectivity.”

The internet is a way for people in poorer or far-flung communities to connect with social programs and educational opportunities, such as employment and health services, to which they might not otherwise have access. But according to a new report from the Brookings Institution, residents in low-income or rural neighborhoods are the least likely to have broadband subscriptions.

The richer and more educated a neighborhood is, the Brookings report says, the more likely its residents are to have internet that reaches that threshold. While 73 percent of Americans have broadband service in their homes, college graduates are three times more likely to have the subscription than high-school graduates. In 2015, nearly a quarter of Americans lived in low-subscription neighborhoods, meaning that fewer than 40 percent of households in the area had a broadband connection. The 17.7 million children who live in low-subscription neighborhoods are particularly impacted by this dearth. As schoolwork becomes increasingly digital, a lack of broadband access makes it difficult for kids to complete homework assignments and research projects.

Charter Communications has been served a whopping $13 million fine by New York State’s Public Service Commission (PSC). The commission claims that Charter, now the largest broadband provider in the state, has failed to make good on promises to expand its broadband service to more rural communities as part of its merger deal with Time Warner Cable (TWC).

New York’s PSC reached an agreement with Charter in 2016 as part of the commission’s approval of the merger with TWC, which had 2.5 million subscribers in New York. Under the deal, Charter made a series of commitments to upgrade its broadband network within its New York footprint, including a promise to extend its Spectrum broadband service to 145,000 more residents and businesses by 2020. The agreement included statewide speed upgrades reaching 100 Mbps by 2018 and 300 Mbps by 2019, and a timeline for building out its broadband network in chunks of over 36,000 new residents and businesses per year, to be completed by 2020. Charter was able to upgrade broadband service speeds to 100 Mbps across New York ahead of the 2018 deadline set by its agreement, but has been slow to roll out service to new households and businesses. In its first year, Charter passed just over 15,000 new premises, less than half of what it promised.

The Federal Communications Commission has ignored a public records request for information that might shed light on the legitimacy of comments on Chairman Ajit Pai's anti-net neutrality plan, according to a lawsuit filed against the FCC. Freelance writer Jason Prechtel filed a Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) request on June 4 asking the FCC for data related to bulk comment uploads, which may contain comments falsely attributed to people without their knowledge. But while the FCC acknowledged receiving his FoIA request, it did not approve or deny the request within the legally allotted timeframe, Prechtel wrote in a lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

Ten years ago, the world population was 6.6 billion; 3 billion of those people lacked access to broadband internet connectivity. Fast forward a decade to 2017, and the global population has risen by 1 billion, but so has the number of disconnected people. The Broadband Commission was set up by the United Nations and the International Telecommunications Union in 2010 in an effort to expand internet access to meet the Millennium Development Goals; the Sustainable Development Goals replaced the MDGs in 2015 and set out a target of reaching universal broadband access by 2020.

Each year, the Broadband Commission releases a report detailing the state of broadband; 2017's report, which came out on September 15, finds that the growth of connectivity around the word has stalled. But another report, released several days after by the Broadband Commission, lays out a way to re-energize the effort toward global connectivity: supporting advancements in high-altitude and satellite communications technologies.

The Trump administration, the Federal Communications Commission, Congress and greedy companies are attacking people’s rights to connect and communicate so relentlessly that staying on top of everything that’s happening can feel like an impossible task. That’s why we’ve put together this handy list of five of the biggest threats people are facing:

1) The FCC’s scheme to kill Net Neutrality
2) Anti-Net Neutrality legislation
3) Mega media mergers
4) Local news crisis
5) Lies, lies and more lies: The proliferation of fake news — which Trump embraces — is making it hard to get the truth out about these attacks on our rights to connect and communicate, what’s at stake and what we can do about it.

The internet is Balkanizing, and the world’s largest tech companies have had to dispatch envoys to, in effect, contain the damage such divisions pose to their ambitions.

The internet has long had a reputation of being an anything-goes place that only a few nations have tried to tame — China in particular. But in recent years, events as varied as the Arab Spring, elections in France and confusion in Indonesia over the religion of the country’s president have awakened governments to how they have lost some control over online speech, commerce and politics on their home turf. Even in the United States, tech giants are facing heightened scrutiny from the government. Facebook recently cooperated with investigators for Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the American presidential election. In recent weeks, politicians on the left and the right have also spoken out about the excess power of America’s largest tech companies. As nations try to grab back power online, a clash is brewing between governments and companies.

Some of the biggest companies in the world — Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Alibaba among them — are finding they need to play by an entirely new set of rules on the once-anarchic internet. And it’s not just one new set of rules. According to a review by The New York Times, more than 50 countries have passed laws over the last five years to gain greater control over how their people use the web.

The survey effort recontacted 429 past participants of the Connect Your Community project that had participated in a 2012 impact survey and produced findings that show the long-term and continuing impact of high-touch digital inclusion efforts 5 years after project completion. Highlights:
76 percent of all respondents maintained their home internet subscription.
65 percent of those without a home internet connection say cost is the primary reason for them not maintaining their service. 18 percent say it is their lack of a computer.
Only 10 percent of respondents report a lack of interest or need for home internet, preferring to rely on community resources.
43 percent of connected respondents use patient health record (PHRs) portals to manage their health online.
69 percent of connected and 60 percent of unconnected respondents report that they use a computer for their job.
82 percent report that their participation in the Connect Your Community project resulted in a positive workforce-related impact.
Half of the population (50.47 percent) said that they shared what they learned in the CYC project with others outside of the community centers; in their own personal networks.
Only 17 percent of respondents were aware of data caps on their service. Of these, 51 percent report having an unlimited internet plan, while the rest report data caps as low as 20gb or less per month

Today, when we talk about universal service, we have in mind bringing high-speed Internet access, or “broadband,” to any American who wants it. Broadband is important for many reasons: it can help you get a job, start a company, get health care, educate your kids, and the like. But it’s also vital for free speech and political engagement. Fewer today seem to be willing to defend to the death others’ right to say things with which they might disagree. The situation on many college campuses is especially distressing.

A strong platform that allows the people to share their ideas and inform themselves about current affairs forestalls that fate. And in a remarkably short time, the Internet has become one such platform. The FCC’s charge and our cultural traditions remind us that we need to extend that online megaphone to all Americans. I look forward to working with you to do that—and to fulfilling this timeless vision for the digital age.