A New Chapter of Digital Equity Work in California
Friday, January 19, 2024
January 2024
Weekly Digest
Weekly Digest
Comcast’s Xfinity Stores Your Sensitive Data. You Can Kind of Opt Out
Your internet service provider could have a good idea of who you’re planning to vote for in the 2024 election as well as the gender of the last person you slept with—and it’s saving that information for later. Major internet providers, like Comcast’s Xfinity, stockpile more revealing data than users might initially realize. For example, Xfinity customers are automatically opted in to allow the company to store sensitive personal information.
EPIC and Accountable Tech Petition FTC To Investigate Google Over Location Data (MediaPost)
Submitted by zwalker@benton.org on Fri, 01/19/2024 - 11:28‘Very scary’: Mark Zuckerberg’s pledge to build advanced AI alarms experts (Guardian, The)
Submitted by zwalker@benton.org on Fri, 01/19/2024 - 11:28
Wireless to Fiber
There is an interesting discussion that has been percolating in the industry for many years. Many wireless ISPs have extolled the benefits of building wireless networks as the first step to eventually build fiber networks. For over a decade, I’ve been a big proponent of this business plan and have worked with many rural internet service providers who entered new rural markets with wireless with the hope of eventually building fiber in the same areas.
Netflix Urges Federal Communications Commission To Pass Open Internet Rules
Netflix argued that the future of streaming video will turn on whether the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) bans broadband providers from tampering with online traffic. “Today’s online entertainment marketplace is intensely competitive, which benefits consumers,” the streaming video company wrote in comments filed with the FCC.
Spectrum Launches Gigabit Broadband, Mobile, TV and Voice Services in Cullman County, Alabama
Spectrum announced the launch of Spectrum Internet, Mobile, TV and Voice services to more than 1,900 homes and small businesses in Cullman County, Alabama. Spectrum’s newly constructed fiber-optic network buildout is part of the company’s approximately $5 billion RDOF-related investment in unserved rural communities, partly offset by $1.2 billion in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) RDOF auction. The company’s RDOF expansion will provide broadband access to 1.3 million customer locations across 24 states in the coming years.