1. Monthly archive
  2. May 2022

May 2022

US Ignite Unveils Federal Funding Opportunity Tool for Communities

To help communities across the country navigate federal grant opportunities for broadband and smart city projects – including new programs created under the $110 billion American Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act –  US Ignite proudly unveils the new ‘Federal Funding Opportunity Tool.’ Using the tool, community leaders seeking federal funding can now target the grants that best match their needs based on areas of investment interest, funding availability, and funding requirements.

OMB offers guidance on implementation of infrastructure programs

Guidance to executive departments and agencies that have responsibilities for implementing programs created by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The IIJA provides $550 billion in new federal investment in infrastructure, including $65 billion for broadband programs. The Administration is committed to creating a governance structure that will break down barriers and eliminate silos. To ensure robust governance and management of effective, efficient, and equitable IIJA implementation within and across agencies:

Big Money for Broadband, A Risky Connection for You

Shopping for something online, streaming a video, or scrolling through an article all pose severe risks to personal privacy, as websites, platforms, apps, and tech companies collect massive amounts of data on their users. Just getting online in the first place, however, poses a great risk as well. Internet service providers (ISPs) are uniquely positioned to take advantage of personal data, as they have near-total access to all traffic flowing over their networks. Broadband providers routinely collect data on users’ locations, web browsing, app usage history, and more.

European telecom companies seek network investment from Big Tech and streamers

The European Union should make big tech and video streaming companies pay at least some of the estimated €28 billion they cost European telecom groups for their outsized use of network infrastructure, according to a new industry report. A small number of video, social media and tech companies — including Facebook owner Meta, Netflix and Amazon — account for more than 55 percent of all traffic on mobile and broadband networks, according to research commissioned by the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association and conducted by the consultancy firm Axon.

Amazon has bold ambitions to take on SpaceX in the satellite internet business

Amazon has a plan to deliver internet from space using 3,236 small satellites in low Earth orbit. It’s called Project Kuiper. In April 2022, the company signed a multibillion-dollar contract — the largest rocket deal in the history of the commercial space industry — for launches of its Kuiper satellites with three different entities: Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, United Launch Alliance (a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin) and Europe’s Arianespace.

Sponsor 

Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California

Date 
Sun, 09/25/2022 - 13:00 to Wed, 09/28/2022 - 17:00

The Right Connection: CENIC 2022 brings together CENIC’s richly diverse community, with participants from all education segments, including public and private research universities; public libraries; scientific, cultural, and performing arts institutions; private sector technology businesses; public policy and government; healthcare; and R&E partners from across the country and around the world.


Monopolies Are Not Taking a Fifth of Your Wages

President Biden, as part of his executive order on competition, directed the US Department of Treasury to report “on the effects of lack of competition on labor markets.” In March 2022, the Treasury released a report, “The State of Labor Market Competition,” concluding that “a careful review of credible academic studies places the decrease in wages [due to labor market power] at roughly 20 percent relative to the level in a fully competitive market.” Progressives use the report to justify much more aggressive antitrust enforcement, including in merger review, even though it presents virtual

Sponsor 

Information Technology & Innovation Foundation

Date 
Wed, 06/15/2022 - 12:00 to 13:00

It’s been nearly a decade since the FTC updated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule, which implements the law that governs the collection of personal information from children under 13. In that time, there has been significant innovation in the digital space, with countless new apps, smart devices, messaging tools, and other online experiences available for children and adults.


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