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  2. January 2021

January 2021

Sponsor 

Senate Commerce Committee

Date 
Tue, 01/26/2021 - 16:00

Related Headlines 
Commerce Department nominee advocates for Section 230 reform

Bipartisan Letter to FCC on Rural Broadband Deployment Questions Rural Digital Opportunity Fund

 Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC), Senator John Thune (R-SD), and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) led a bipartisan letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai and fellow commissioners regarding implementation of programs to help close the digital divide in rural America. With the recent completion of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction, the letter urges the FCC to ensure recipients of broadband deployment funding can deliver on their commitments. In total, 157 Representatives and Senators joined Walberg on the letter.

Outgoing FCC Chief Says Government Laid Groundwork for Faster Networks

Ajit Pai’s four years atop the Federal Communications Commission outlasted many senior officials in the Trump administration where tenure was often measured in months. Some of that longevity owed to the independence of the commission, where Senate-confirmed officials are hard to remove during their terms. It also reflected Mr.

Net Neutrality and Big Tech’s Speech Hypocrisy

Social-media giants are under attack for censorship, but a few years ago they positioned themselves as champions of free speech. At issue was “net neutrality,” the Obama-era policy that treated internet service providers like Comcast and AT&T as common carriers—akin to the old Ma Bell monopoly—by prohibiting them from discriminating among content providers, including the social-media sites. Facebook and Twitter turned out to be more threatening than under threat.

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