Associated Press

Indiana launches $100 million push for broadband to rural areas

Indiana is launching a $100 million program to expand broadband internet services across rural parts of the state. Gov Eric Holcomb (R-IN) says the Next Level Broadband program will bridge the digital divide, giving more rural Hoosiers access to the internet for business or personal uses. The governor says the “internet is just as essential to Indiana’s prosperity today as highways were a century ago.” Broadband providers can initially apply for up to $5 million to expand service to unserved areas if they provide at least a 20 percent match.

Loss of newspapers contributes to political polarization

The steady loss of local newspapers and journalists across the country contributes to the nation’s political polarization, a new study has found. According to research published in the Journal of Communication, with fewer opportunities to find out about local politicians, citizens are more likely to turn to national sources like cable news and apply their feelings about national politics to people running for the town council or state legislature. The result is much less “split ticket” voting, or people whose ballot includes votes for people of different parties.

CES 2019: Tech show isn’t immune from government shutdown

The 2019 Consumer Electronics Show is revving up in Las Vegas (NV), but even technology’s biggest trade event isn’t immune to the effects of the partial government shutdown. Organizers said that several scheduled government speakers have canceled their travel plans. These include Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai and at least nine other federal officials. Transportation Sec Elaine Chao is still planning to deliver a keynote talk Jan 9 on federal initiatives to advance drone technology and self-driving vehicles.

How 'net neutrality' became a hot-button issue

Though network neutrality started off more than a decade ago as an insight into how to make networks work most efficiently, it has taken on much larger social and political dimensions lately. The issue has emerged as an anti-monopoly rallying point and even a focus for "resistance" to the Trump Administration.

Anger toward media spreads into local communities

While President Donald Trump’s attacks on the media are usually centered on national outlets like CNN and The New York Times, the attitudes unleashed have filtered down to journalists on the street covering news in local communities across the country. When a president describes the press as enemies of the people, “attitudes shift and the field crews get the brunt of the abuse,” wrote Lori Bentley-Law, a television news photographer for Los Angeles; KNBC-TV. “And it’s not just from one side.

Britain's Information Commissioner fines Facebook $644,000 over users' data breach

Britain's Information Commissioner has slapped Facebook with a fine of $644,000 — the maximum possible — for its behavior in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The ICO's investigation found that between 2007 and 2014, Facebook processed the personal information of users unfairly by giving app developers access to their information without informed consent. The fine was the maximum allowed under the law at the time the breach occurred.

Apple CEO calls for strict EU-like privacy rules, derides 'data industrial complex'

Apple CEO Tim Cook endorsed tough privacy laws for both Europe and the US and renewed the technology giant's commitment to protecting personal data, which he warned was being “weaponized” against users. Cook applauded European Union authorities for bringing in a strict new data privacy law in May and said the iPhone maker supports a US federal privacy law. “We at Apple are in full support of a comprehensive federal privacy law in the United States,” he said.

Yahoo to pay $50 million in damages for massive security breach

Yahoo has agreed to pay $50 million in damages and provide two years of free credit-monitoring services to 200 million people whose email addresses and other personal information were stolen as part of the biggest security breach in history. The restitution hinges on federal court approval of a settlement filed Oct 22 in a 2-year-old lawsuit seeking to hold Yahoo accountable for digital burglaries that occurred in 2013 and 2014, but weren’t disclosed until 2016.