January 2019

Public Knowledge, joined by the Benton Foundation and 14 consumer, rural, and public interest groups, filed a Petition for Reconsideration opposing the Federal Communications Commission’s recent Declaratory Ruling classifying text messaging as a Title I information service under the Communications Act. The groups believe this action undermines the public’s right to use text messaging without undue interference from wireless companies.

In 2008, Northern Michigan University (NMU) elected to tackle the lack of adequate broadband access in its community head-on. With over 8,000 notebook computers assigned to its students, NMU launched an aggressive plan to construct the nation’s first Educational Broadband Service (EBS) WiMAX network.

C Spire, the nation’s sixth-largest wireless operator, is partnering with Airspan Networks, Microsoft, Nokia and Siklu to improve and extend the availability of fixed and wireless broadband in rural areas. The consortium announced plans to develop new coordinated models with regional fixed and wireless broadband providers, utilities and other agencies to close the gap in affordability and access in rural communities. The rural broadband initiative is set to begin the week of Jan 28 with technical discussions at a workshop in New Orleans (LA).

When it comes to your digital profile, the data you choose to share is just the tip of an iceberg. The first layer is the one you do control. The second layer is made of behavioral observations. The third layer is composed of interpretations of the first and second.