WASHINGTON, March 13, 2026 – Some rural broadband providers are struggling to secure fiber that complies with a $42.45 billion grant program’s domestic manufacturing rules.

Two ISPs participating in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, plus a distributor, contractor, and others described orders for fiber being unexpectedly canceled in recent weeks. Most requested anonymity to avoid jeopardizing business relationships. 

The time for careful consideration of AI regulation options is now. In a few years, it could be too late.

A few weeks ago, I wrote that, from a legal perspective, 2026 would be a make-or-break year for AI.

The regulatory Wild West we are currently living in cannot possibly persist without chaos reigning and people realizing that they are fully unprotected from the negative consequences of AI development and deployment.

We are still in March, but it has already become clear that this is the year in which democratically elected authorities must take bold decisions on AI.

-

An important factor that has led us to where we are now is that the risk profile and the social impact of AI have been clearly underestimated over the past 10-15 years of AI policy debates.

They did not take into ac

On Sunday stars will take to the red carpet for the 98th Academy Awards in front of a heavy backdrop of fascism, war and corruption coming straight from the White House.

We’ve already seen household names from Samuel L. Jackson to Billie Eilish using their celebrity to decry ICE at previous awards shows. We hope that artists continue to speak out against the xenophobia tearing apart our country, illegal wars and the innocent lives lost.

We also need to be talking about how Trump is angling to capture Hollywood and control its movie-making machine. That’s why Free Press is driving a billboard around Los Angeles this weekend showing Trump pulling the strings behind the massive media merger that threatens to upend Hollywood and the news business, too.

Paramount Skydance has won the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery, a storied studio that also happens to own CNN, Nickelodeon and HBO. David Ellison, the son of tech centibillionaire and Trump ally Larry Ellison, runs Paramount Skydance, and the Ellisons have made it no secret that they’re willing to contort their massive media conglomerate into a Trump propaganda megaphone.

We couldn’t have scripted a more detestable cast of bad guys.

WASHINGTON, March 13, 2026 – Can you have too much of a good thing?  Former Republican FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly seems to think so. 

The former Republican FCC Commissioner sees USDA programs as wasteful and unnecessary.

In an op-ed published Wednesday, O’Rielly called on Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to oppose the renewal of three broadband programs run through the Department of Agriculture, arguing that National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program (BEAD) program and the FCC’s Universal Service Fund make these programs unnecessary. 

From 1G to 6G, telecom history shows a shift from analog voices to AI agents, creating a seamless digital and physical world interconnection.

Every generation of mobile networks, from 1G to 5G, has rewritten the rules of how the world lives and works. The coming 6G revolution, by decade’s end, will represent a new direction still, toward a universal data fabric where millions of agents collaborate in real-time across the digital and physical worlds.

The story of wireless connectivity is often told in speeds and standards—megabits per second, latency, and spectrum bands. But these generational shifts in device specs obscure a deeper pattern. Each generation, from 1G to 5G, rewrote the relationships between three elements: the Devices we carry, the Networks that connect them, and the Applications that run on them. We call this connectivity’s DNA. With 6G, that DNA of interconnection is about to change fundamentally.

As with the “7 Phases of the Internet”—an article we published with IEEE Spectrum last October—mobile networks’ 6 generations follow a similar arc toward system-wide intelligence. That arc traces through every generation of wireless, revealing a steady advancement of the reach and scope of connectivity itself.

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2026 – States have continued to prioritize affordable broadband service, with Connecticut passing legislation last year that will likely help close the digital divide. 

A Pew broadband project by Jake Varn applauded Connecticut’s broadband affordability law, which establishes a Net Equality Program. The law will require internet service providers that “contract with the state to offer a low-cost plan of $40 per month or less to eligible households” that receive government assistance. 

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2026 – A new report commissioned by rural broadband trade group NTCA said the $8.5 billion federal Universal Service Fund is critical to maintaining broadband and voice networks in rural communities, where providing service would otherwise be economically challenging.

The 33-slide report released March 11 by NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association and consulting firm Cartesian analyzes the finances of rural network operators and finds that without high-cost USF support many providers would face unsustainable operating margins and negative cash flow, threatening the long-term viability of existing networks.

The interactive data dashboard below summarizes Connect Illinois Round 4  (BEAD) eligibility, classifying locations as served, underserved, unserved, and not BEAD-eligible.

This tool specifically emphasizes past programming from the Illinois Office of Broadband and Illinois Broadband Lab, while providing a detailed breakdown of digitally vulnerable population groups and the latest broadband adoption statistics.

Accompanying maps are included to visualize locations and program hubs for additional context. Page 2 aggregates these population and adoption statistics by the 10 economic regions in Illinois.

USTelecom offered a series of recommendations to the NTIA on the best use of BEAD's $21 billion in non-deployment funds late last week. In a letter to the federal body, USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter called on the NTIA to prioritize funds for modernizing 911 systems, cybersecurity training for the broadband workforce and permitting reform.

A month after Seedance 2.0's launch in China sparked cease-and-desist letters from Disney and Paramount Skydance over its use of copyrighted materials, its developer ByteDance has reportedly hit pause on the release of the AI video tool in other regions. According to The Information, which spoke to two anonymous sources with knowledge of the matter, ByteDance has suspended Seedance 2.0's global rollout. Engadget has reached out to ByteDance for comment and will update this story if we hear back with more information.

Seedance 2.0 caught heat from Hollywood studios almost immediately upon its release, after user-generated videos including a viral AI clip of Brad Pitt fighting Tom Cruise sparked concerns that copyrighted works were used in training the model. In February, ByteDance told the BBC that it is "taking steps to strengthen current safeguards as we work to prevent the unauthorised use of intellectual property and likeness by users." It's unclear when exactly ByteDance planned to release the tool more widely.

ROME - Mr. Peter Thiel, the US billionaire venture capitalist and early supporter of President Donald Trump, launched on March 15 a series of closed-door lectures in Rome exploring the concept

of the Antichrist, drawing scrutiny from Catholic commentators.

The invitation-only conference, which runs until March 18, is not open to the press and its venue has not been publicly disclosed. Organisers quoted in the media say participants are drawn from academia, technology and religious circles.

A co-founder of Palantir Technologies, an AI software company with deep ties to the US defence and intelligence agencies, Mr. Thiel has in recent years devoted increasing attention to religious and philosophical ideas.

In 2025, he held a similar series of talks in San Francisco exploring the possibility that the Antichrist – a figure who opposes or denies Christ – could emerge on the global stage.

Software demos and Pentagon records detail how chatbots like Anthropic’s Claude could help the Pentagon analyze intelligence and suggest next steps.

An ongoing and heated dispute between the Pentagon and Anthropic is raising new questions about how the startup’s technology is actually used inside the US military. In late February, Anthropic refused to grant the government unconditional access to its Claude AI models, insisting the systems should not be used for mass surveillance of Americans or fully autonomous weapons. The Pentagon responded by labeling Anthropic's products a “supply-chain risk,” prompting the startup to file two lawsuits this week alleging illegal retaliation by the Trump administration and seeking to overturn the designation.

The clash, along with the rapidly escalating war in Iran, has drawn attention to Anthropic’s partnership with the military contractor Palantir, which announced in November 2024 that it would integrate Claude into the software it sells to US intelligence and defense agencies. Palantir says the Claude integration can help analysts uncover “data-driven insights,” identify patterns, and support making “informed decisions in time-sensitive situations.”

The Trump administration has asserted for months that its “bargain” version of the federal $42.5 billion grant program to expand access to broadband internet would save taxpayers money. That made states and their representatives in Congress nervous that funds left over after deployment proposals would be clawed back.

Under pressure from senators at an appropriations hearing, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick last month sought to calm fears when he said that so-called “non-deployment” funds under the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment, or BEAD, program would not be rescinded.

But with no guidance so far from the department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which was expected but delayed this week, lawmakers and others are pushing to have their voice heard on exactly how states will be able to use the $21 billion pot of money.

SUGARLOAF, Penn., March 13, 2026 (AP) — For John Zola, the 40 acres were like a paradise: apple orchards tucked into northern Pennsylvania's rolling hills, a barn, meadows and more than enough land for four houses: one for himself and his wife and each of his three adult children.

It’s been “hell,” however, since a contractor hired by the local power utility knocked on Zola's door in late 2024 and informed him that it planned to build a 500-kilovolt power line through his property.

High-voltage power lines cost tens of billions of dollars a year and are the latest front line in the battle over tech giants' massive operations.

This line and others like it are being planned in accelerating numbers in the United States to deliver power, sometimes across hundreds of miles, to enormous data centers run by the world's biggest tech companies.

Utah became the first state to allow AI to prescribe drug refills. Creepy and crazy ... or a solution to health care woes?

A new research report documenting how a new wave of journalism funds work, they impact they’re having and the lessons for others to follow.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/67aa3230fa2ca8177398d0f9/t/69b21ef1d274d57ff87624be/1773281009061/Funding+the+Future+of+Local+News+%E2%80%93+Greater+Community+Media.pdf

What is community-centred media

Community-centred media is an approach to meeting communities’ needs for information and connection. It is different to traditional journalism through being deeply rooted in listening to and understanding the needs of communities, particularly marginalised groups, centring their voices and concerns, and ensuring the media reflects and serves them.

As well as focusing on listening and building strong relationships with communities, it often goes beyond this through co-creation and active participation. It ultimately aims to build community connection, resilience, and power to make positive change in their lives and communities.

The federal government’s big effort to build out broadband is facing a problem you don’t see often in Washington: There’s now more money left over in the program than anyone knows what to do with. 

Almost five years ago, Congress committed approximately $41 billion to connect all Americans to high-speed internet as part of its bipartisan infrastructure bill. But in a rare moment of wisdom, the Trump administration revamped the effort last year by nixing a number of ill-conceived rules that had slowed its progress and added to costs. That included removing most requirements unrelated to broadband deployment and opening up more opportunities for traditional fiber cable alternatives — like fixed wireless and low-Earth orbit satellite constellations — to service households.

In short, the initiative got an abundance-style overhaul with a laser focus on delivering on the core goal of getting all Americans connected.

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2026 – A Maryland-based provider is asking federal regulators to preempt state rules it says prohibit the deployment of telecom services. State agencies say their policies are valid.

The dispute stems from Talkie Communication’s effort to deploy a utility pole with fixed wireless equipment in a right-of-way controlled by the Maryland State Highway Administration. Talkie argued in a Jan. 28 petition to the Federal Communications Commission that it should be exempt from county zoning rules and annual fees charged by the state’s Department of Information Technology.

As we wait for delayed non-deployment guidance from the NTIA, I wanted to revisit the listening sessions. NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth cited the “voluminous and passionate responses to our call for input. Across three listening sessions, we had more than 1,700 attendees and 175 speakers participate. We also received 188 written comments from industry, state officials, and broadband advocates.”

So, in the words of the late, great Marvin Gaye… What’s going on?

When I last examined the public comments, I only focused on session one (closed to SBOs) and session two (public). Since then, there has been a third session, seeking public feedback again. 

So, let’s first take a look at the SBOs/States’ input/direction for non-deployment dollars. I got my hands on the transcripts from three listening sessions (two public sessions and one “SBOs only” session) and broke down the categories of investment mentioned by the 44 states and territories that submitted comments.