Upcoming policy issue

Through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Congress and the Biden Administration created the “Internet for All” Initiative, a $65 billion investment to ensure all Americans can access affordable, reliable, and high-speed internet. But with new leadership coming to the White House and the U.S. Senate in January, the promise of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act may not be realized. On November 21, 2024, incoming Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX), sent a pair of letters to the U.S.

The Supreme Court signaled it may take up a case that could determine whether Internet service providers must terminate users who are accused of copyright infringement. In an order, the court invited the Department of Justice's solicitor general to file a brief "expressing the views of the United States." In Sony Music Entertainment v.

The fate of the $8 billion Universal Service Fund (USF) now lies in the hands of the Supreme Court, which has the power to determine whether the subsidy program is unconstitutional. The legality issue concerns the Federal Communications Commission’s choice to delegate the administration of USF programs (Connect America Fund, Lifeline, E-Rate and Rural Health Care) to a private third party—the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). The Sixth and Eleventh Circuits have already ruled to uphold the constitutionality of the USF’s current funding mechanism.

Over the past few years, Americans have lived through an unprecedented surge in censorship. Your companies [Google, Microsoft, Meta/Facebook, and Apple] played significant roles in this improper conduct. Big Tech companies silenced Americans for doing nothing more than exercising their First Amendment rights. They targeted core political, religious, and scientific speech.

Any time there is a change of administration at the White House the Federal Communications Commission gets a new Chairman and a new agenda—and we now know the new Chairman will be current Commissioner Brandon Carr. With a new Chairman comes new policies, but also a turn against some of the policies of the previous FCC. There are a few things that obviously get reversed. First is net neutrality, which is poorly named and is really an effort to put some regulatory oversight on broadband. It seems likely that Commissioner Carr will reverse Chairman Rosenworcel’s decision on discrimination.

Under your leadership, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has repeatedly ignored the text of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in administering the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program.

Former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said Congress should fund the $8.1 billion Universal Service Fund through annual appropriations. “I do think that the time has come for Congress to shift this to a general appropriation,” said Pai, FCC chairman from 2017 to 2021. “[If USF were funded by appropriation] we wouldn’t have this situation now where we’re essentially getting more and more money from a declining base of contributors.”

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is expected to soon begin distributing $1.25 billion in grants to nonprofits under the “Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program” (Program) “to support efforts to achieve digital equity, promote digital inclusion activities, and spur greater adoption of broadband among Covered Populations.” The Program’s Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) establishes that applicants must use the funding to serve members of “Covered Populations,” defined to include “individuals who are members of a racial or ethnic minority group.” This

At first, Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” looks like the most Silicon Valley-style project one could imagine. But now that they’ve laid out their plans for the “department” (actually an advisory commission outside government) in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, concern is bubbling up—even in the tech world—that the project might suffer from a couple other very Silicon Valley qualities: ego and overpromising. It’s not clear to many experts that the pair’s plans, as detailed as they s

There has been a lot of speculation since the election that the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant program is going to get revamped. This raises the interesting question if it’s too late for a new administration to make major changes to the BEAD program. There is also the question of the process needed to change the BEAD rules. The BEAD rules were created by Congress, and it seems that Congress would have to act to change the rules. There are several ways the administration could give more funding for satellite.