1. Monthly archive
  2. December 2018

December 2018

Net Neutrality Potentially Gains Powerful Foe in Top Justice Candidate

William P. Barr, nominated to become the nation’s top law enforcement official in the Trump administration, is a former chief lawyer for Verizon Communications who has opposed net neutrality rules for more than a decade. Barr, who served as attorney general under former President George H.W. Bush from 1991-93, warned in 2006 that “network neutrality regulations would discourage construction of high-speed internet lines that telephone and cable giants are spending tens of billions of dollars to deploy.”

Millions Of Comments About The FCC's Net Neutrality Rules Were Fake. Now The Feds Are Investigating.

According to unnamed sources, the Justice Department is investigating whether crimes were committed when potentially millions of people’s identities were posted to the Federal Communications Commission’s website without their permission, falsely attributing to them opinions about net neutrality rules. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has delivered subpoenas to at least two organizations related to the comments.

Net neutrality could get a reprieve once Democrats take control of the House

Democrats are expected to use their upcoming control of the House to push for strong net neutrality rules. Gigi Sohn -- a former lawyer at the Federal Communications Commission who is now a fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology, Law and Policy -- said she expects Democrats to use their new power to push for the restoration of strong net neutrality rules — and for the topic to be on the lips of presidential hopefuls. “I have no doubt that bills to restore the 2015 rules will be introduced in both the Senate and the House relatively early on,” Sohn said.

Decommissioning of the National Broadband Map and its APIs

Since 2011, the National Broadband Map has been a vital tool for consumers, businesses, policy makers, and researchers by providing an easy- to-use and searchable way to find out who is offering broadband, what types of broadband they are offering, and where they are offering it.  But the mapping platform has become dated, as has the coverage data, which was collected through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) State Broadband Initiative (SBI); the last published SBI data set was current as of June 30, 2014.  Based on the age of the data, and the underlyi

© 1994-2026 Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. All Rights Reserved.