An event to help educate participants about the Digital Divide and shine a spotlight on various organizations dedicated to achieving Digital Inclusion in Central Texas. This event will launch Digital Inclusion Week 2023 (DIW2023) in Austin (TX), bringing together assorted stakeholders from various facets of the Digital Inclusion Ecosystem.
Courts have started blocking some US states' earliest attempts to age-gate the Internet. Courts ordered preliminary injunctions blocking a Texas law requiring ID to access websites featuring adult entertainment, as well as an Arkansas law requiring ID to access some social media platforms.
A wireless tower at Iowa State University’s Agriculture Engineering/Agronomy Farm west of Ames (IA) is loaded with hardware sending radio waves across the countryside, creating wireless internet connections for rural users. There are more poles, antennas, and cabinets full of electronics on the roof of the Economic Development Core Facility at the Iowa State University Research Park. There are also electronics and lower-to-the-ground antennas next to research fields and in a sheep barn. There’s equipment going through the roof of a dairy barn.
The Federal Communications Commission currently relies simultaneously on two online case management solutions: FOIA.gov available at https://www.foia.gov and FOIAonline.gov, available at https://foiaonline.gov/foiaonline/action/public/home. With the planned retirement of FOIAonline.gov by its host agency, the FCC will transition from FOIAonline to a new online case management solution beginning October 1, 2023.
Fiber buildout throughout the United States will not solve the digital divide alone. Though high-speed internet access is essential, we will only see success if we acknowledge and address non-deployment barriers. Inclusion must be built in from the beginning, not as an afterthought. Angela Siefer presents NDIA’s (potentially blasphemous) position in the fiber community and why implementing people-first digital inclusion solutions will be key to closing the digital divide.
Guest Presenter: Angela Siefer, Executive Director, National Digital Inclusion Alliance
The Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department are co-hosting a workshop to facilitate public dialogue on the 2023 Draft Merger Guidelines. The event will feature remarks by Aviv Nevo, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Economics, and Susan Athey, Chief Economist at the Justice Department, as well as two panel discussions.
Small rural carriers have a big decision to make by September 29, 2023, now that the Federal Communication Commission has released new broadband funding offers. The new offers are contingent on a higher broadband speed, as mandated in the enhanced Alternative Connect America Model (E-ACAM) order. Carriers must advise the FCC by the September 2023 deadline, on a state-by-state basis, whether they want to participate in the E-ACAM program and accept the new offers. The initial program, established several years ago, covers some of the costs of deploying broadband to unserved areas based on a
Charter and Brightspeed have formally announced broadband funding wins in the latest round of funding through the North Carolina Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) program.
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