1. Monthly archive
  2. March 2021

March 2021

California’s net neutrality mess that imperils veterans being cleaned up by man who created rule

The Biden administration’s point man on the telecom industry, National Economic Council official Tim Wu, is known as the father of “net neutrality.” Now he finds himself in the awkward position of pushing back against the law he’s fought so hard to promote. FOX Business has learned that Wu is lobbying the telecom industry to find what has been described as a “work around” so the service to veterans can be saved.

No, California Net Neutrality Law Did Not “Nail” Veterans — Carriers Are Using Vets as Pawns.

It’s a cliche villain scene: “Don’t force me to kill the hostages. Unless you do as I say, their blood is on your hands.” While no one would mistake policy fights for a hostage situation (usually), the same principle applies frequently when challenging industry to stop anticompetitive and anti-consumer practices.

March 22-26, 2021
Weekly Digest

What Will the FCC Do Next with Lifeline?

Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

Friday, March 26, 2021

Social Media CEOs Can’t Defend Their Business Model

Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, and Sundar Pichai testified before Congress for a hearing titled “Disinformation Nation: Social Media’s Role In Promoting Extremism And Misinformation.” If you tuned in looking for dumb questions, annoying partisan talking points, and exasperatingly squishy discussions of “misinformation” and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, you would not have been disappointed. However!

Senate Democrats Introduce Bill to Expand Emergency Broadband Benefit Access

Sixteen Senate Democrats introduced new legislation building on the Emergency Broadband Connections Act to ensure working families can stay online through the current economic and health crisis. The new legislation would authorize an additional $6 billion for the Emergency Broadband Benefit program, to accommodate high demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jonathan Sallet being vetted for antitrust post

Apparently, the Biden team is vetting Jonathan Sallet — a former top lawyer under the Obama administration and architect of net neutrality rules — for a top antitrust post. One possible job would be heading the Department of Justice’s powerful Antitrust Division. Sallet’s name has been in the mix for that post for several weeks.

Rebuilding for the vast scope of FCC responsibilities

In this final installment of the "Build Back Better with Biden FCC", we look at the broad sweep of other—yet no less important—issues which the Federal Communications Commission must deal with as the deciding actor including:

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