Policymakers

US officials are stepping up a campaign to defeat a Russian candidate for a United Nations agency that could determine how much control governments have over the internet. Russia's designs on the little-known agency raise the stakes for what the Russian government's vision of the internet could mean for the rest of the world, especially following its

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced an addition to the Office of Legislative Affairs and a transition of leadership in the agency’s Wireline Competition Bureau. Brian Moulton will serve as the Director of the Office of Legislative Affairs, and Trent Harkrader will lead the Wireline Competition Bureau as Chief following Kris Monteith’s retirement from federal service.

The Office of US Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) hosted Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr at the University of New Mexico (UNM) in Albuquerque for a roundtable discussion with the Connect New Mexico Council on investments for broadband and telecommunications made possible by the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Senator Luján fought to expand the Affordable Connectivity Benefit which makes broadband more affordable for 785,000 New Mexicans, in addition to at least $100 million that New Mexico is expected to receive for broadband buildout.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Biden’s pick to replace Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court, will inevitably have to weigh in in important cases related to technological issues including data privacy, intellectual property, telecommunications and antitrust if confirmed. Here are a couple cases where Jackson’s weighed in on key tech topics: Equal Rights Center v. Uber and Electronic Privacy Information Center v. Department of Justice.

Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-AZ)—widely seen as the key swing vote in the Biden administration’s quest to confirm Gigi Sohn as the fifth commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission—has finally (sort of) weighed in on Sohn’s promise to recuse herself from certain television broadcast copyright and retransmission issues. In questions for the record, which stemmed from Sohn’s unusual second confirmation hearing on Feb.

At least 17 members of Congress, including both Republicans and Democrats, have children who work or have recently worked for Google, Amazon, Meta, or Apple, according to an analysis by Emily.

In December 2021, Gov. Ton Wolf (D-PA) signed House Bill 2071 to create the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority to serve as a one stop shop for all things broadband in Pennsylvania. The office will manage at least $100 million in federal aid to coordinate the rollout of broadband across Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority is made of an 11-member board.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, in consultation with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, has appointed Working Group members to serve on the Task Force for Reviewing the Connectivity and Technology Needs of Precision Agriculture in the United States. The following working groups will assist the Task Force in carrying out its work: (1) Mapping and Analyzing Connectivity on Agricultural Lands; (2) Examining Current and Future Connectivity Demand for Precision Agriculture; (3) Encouraging Adoption of Precision Agriculture and Availability of High-Quality Job

Nathan Simington is the newest commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission, but just one year into his role, the former National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) official is bringing his all to the table. The Republican commissioner recently spoke about his reaction to the FCC and NTIA's newly announced Spectrum Coordination Initiative, as well as his views on inter-agency collaboration and social media regulation.