Level of Government

Recent legislation included big increases in federal funding for the deployment of broadband, which is increasingly critical to daily life, but unavailable in some areas. Our analysis found that thousands more skilled workers will be needed to deploy broadband and 5G funded by recent federal programs. If this work is spread over 10 years, the funding would support about 23,000 additional workers at its peak. A shorter timespan could require even more of them. We found mixed evidence on whether there's a shortage of these workers.

Samuel Levine, director of the Federal Trade Commission's bureau of consumer protection, said the agency won't hesitate to sue companies that play fast and loose with customers' data.

Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), who will chair the House Judiciary Committee next Congress, gave a hint of what is to come with letters sent to five big tech companies requesting information about conservative material removed from their platforms. In letters sent to large online platforms, Rep Jordan requested the top executives at Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook provide any information they have about contact with President Joe Biden's administration regarding "the moderation, deletion, suppression, restricting, or reduced circulation of content." Rep Jordan and other Rep

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced the Shielding Children's Retinas from Egregious Exposure on the Net (SCREEN) Act, which would direct the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue a rule requiring all commercial pornographic websites to adopt age verification technology to ensure children cannot access pornographic content. Specifically, the SCREEN Act:

Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced the Interstate Obscenity Definition Act to establish a national definition of obscenity that would apply to obscene content transmitted via interstate or foreign communications. Obscenity is not protected under the First Amendment and is prohibited from interstate or foreign transmission. The Supreme Court, however, has struggled to define obscenity, and its current definition under the "Miller Test" runs into serious challenges when applied to the internet. Sen. Lee's bill would define "obscenity" within the Communications Act of 1934.

Technical assistance for broadband expansion in Alabama is the focus of a series of meetings in the state. The Alabama Community Broadband Technical Assistance program kicked off recently and will be offered in each of the state’s 67 counties. The program works to provide technical assistance to municipalities and other public stakeholders in the state who are working to ensure broadband is accessible to everyone.

The Federal Communications Commission has received several petitions and requests from E-Rate stakeholders through the annual E-Rate eligible services list (ESL) proceedings, asking that the FCC permit the use of E-Rate program funds to support advanced or next-generation firewalls and services, as well as other network security services. The FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau seeks comment on these petitions as well as the related funding year 2023 ESL proceeding filings.

The Lifeline program and the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) serve a vital role in providing low-income Americans with affordable access to essential communication services. Between November 21 and December 8, 2022, the National Lifeline Association (NaLA) surveyed more than 60,000 customers who use the Lifeline and/or ACP program about who they are and how they use the programs. Survey results indicate that low-income consumers use Lifeline and/or ACP service to connect to family and to access other government programs, healthcare, jobs and online education.

With a big push nationwide to get customers enrolled in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), most broadband providers seem to have forgotten about the Federal Communications Commission's Lifeline program that can provide a monthly discount of $9.25 off a telephone or broadband bill for qualifying customers. Customers can qualify for both the ACP discount and Lifeline, meaning an ISP can collect a total subsidy of $39.25 for a qualifying customer. Any ISP that is participating in ACP in order to reach low-income households should consider the Lifeline discount as well.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded nine grants as part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP). These new grants, totaling more than $40.3 million, bring the total of the program to nearly $1.7 billion awarded to 130 Tribal entities.