Thomas has argued social media companies are like common carriers. Texas’s social media law, which could make its way to SCOTUS, makes a similar case.

Sumter County is using COVID-19 relief money to pay for rural broadband access.

Reiterating its prior common-sense opinion, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in hiQ v. LinkedIn that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act likely does not bar scraping data from a public website against the wishes of the website owner. Last year, after the Supreme Court decided its firs

Maryland's legislature has unanimously passed a bill that will require law enforcement agencies to learn, as part of their standard training, to recognize the common tactics of electronic surveillance and the laws around such activities. This victory will help provide survivors of domesti

Governor Mills Announces ConnectMaine Approval of Broadband Infrastructure Grants

FCC, USDA, NTIA, Treasury agree to talk about respective federal subsidies

Today, Governor Roy Cooper joined U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina M. Raimondo at the Kramden Institute in Durham to announce the Biden-Harris Administration's Internet for All initiative.

ST. LOUIS (PRWEB) May 09, 2022 -- Arcadian long-haul fiber routes are poised to improve network diversity and bridge the digital divide in rural and tribal communities

The Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, otherwise known as BEAD, officially launched today with the release of the grant requirements and process in its Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). 

In essence, the BEAD Program is a block-grant program, providing grants in lump sums to States, the District of Columbia and territories based on a formula that hinges on the number of unserved households in a given state. Those numbers are forthcoming and will be provided through a new mapping program housed at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). States will take most of the BEAD implementation money and sub-grant it to build broadband infrastructure to households without any or inadequate broadband service. With restrictions, it can also be used for broadband adoption activities.

Today is a big day—we’re one step closer to seeing the $65 billion investment the federal government made in digital equity and broadband through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). By way of reminder, the IIJA, passed in fall 2021, appropriates over $65 billion to states, local governments, community organizations, and other entities for a range of digital inclusion activities. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will administer the bulk of the digital equity and broadband funds allocated through IIJA—over $48 billion of the $65 billion—through four programs. Collectively, they’re calling it the “Internet for All” initiative.

Today NTIA released three Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs)—which basically open up the application process for three of the programs NTIA will manage allocated through the IIJA:

This week’s question: How has the CBRS model worked out thus far? Would this model be successful in any other bands in particular? Read on for our panelists’ thoughts and sign up to receive the next…

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will meet Wednesday with telecom and airline industry officials on a push to retrofit and ultimately replace some airplane radio altimeters that could face interference from C-Band 5G wireless service.

Google is fighting back against a Brazilian court order to turn over data on all users who searched for specific terms, including the name of a well-known elected official and a busy downtown thoroughfare. (Brief in Portuguese / English*) While we applaud Google for challenging this digita

Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter highlights the risks to human rights and personal safety when any single person has complete control over policies affecting almost 400 million users. And in this case, that person has repeatedly demonstrated that they do not understand the realities of platform policy at scale.

The Biden Administration is expecting Friday the 13th to be a lucky day for Americans who need government help to get online.

Local networks are important for bringing high-speed internet to communities. But local networks aren't enough. They need to connect to robust, high-capacity national and regional networks. Middle mile infrastructure makes this possible. By connecting to major networks, local networks can ensure reliable high-speed internet service for even the most remote communities.

The Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program provides funding for this vital part of our nation's high-speed network. With $1 billion in funding, the program will reduce the cost of bringing high-speed internet to unserved and underserved communities.

Download the program info sheet

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reinstated a law that says that a user can’t be censored based on their “viewpoint.”

Plus: New details of ICE’s dragnet surveillance in the US, Clearview AI agrees to limit sales of its faceprint database, and more security news this week.

Institutions such as Carnegie Mellon, Purdue, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the University of Missouri are leading projects with community partners to expand high-speed Internet access.

Almost exactly three years since it was first introduced in Congress, the implementation of the Digital Equity Act (DEA) begins today with NTIA’s announcement of the opening of the first set of funds from the Digital Equity Act. The announcement comes by way of NTIA’s release of the first Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the DEA. 

The DEA creates two programs housed at the NTIA—the State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program and the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program.