1. Monthly archive
  2. April 2025

April 2025

Cyber label program could expand past consumer goods, FCC Commissioner Simington predicts

A recently unveiled cybersecurity labeling program for smart products might be expanded in the near future to include other equipment beyond household internet appliances, Republican Federal Communications Commissioner Nathan Simington said at an Information Technology Industry Council event. The label, known as the Cyber Trust Mark, was designed initially for consumer internet of things devices to inform shoppers that applicable products meet certain government-vetted cybersecurity standards.

‘Number-one obstructionist’: Electricity co-ops lambasted for slow broadband rollout

More than a billion dollars worth of government incentives to boost rural Hoosier broadband access could get tangled in the utility pole attachment fight between Indiana’s electricity providers and telecommunications companies—prompting a major potential amendment and several hostile exchanges at a committee hearing. “For three years of my life, I have been trying to get the utilities and the telecoms to agree,” the committee’s frustrated leader, Rep Ed Soliday (R-4), began. “… And so, we now are here.” “The loser in all of this is the rural person who needs broadband,” he said.

Being Human in 2035: How Are We Changing in the Age of AI?

A majority of global technology experts say the likely magnitude of change in humans’ native capacities and behaviors as they adapt to artificial intelligence will be “deep and meaningful,” or even “dramatic” over the next decade. The results are based on a canvassing of a select group of experts between Dec 27, 2024, and Feb 1, 2025. Nearly 200 of the experts wrote full-length essays on the primary topic: Being Human in the Age of AI. An overwhelming majority of those who wrote essays focused their remarks on the potential problems they foresee.

Secretary Fontes Condemns Action Dismantling IMLS

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D-AZ) expressed deep concern and disappointment following the abrupt placement of staff on administrative leave at the Institute of Museum and Library Services, leaving federal grants to local libraries in jeopardy. “Federal grants are basically tax dollars being put to work in a smart way to help the people who paid them in. The reckless layoff of IMLS staff is a devastating act of sabotage,” said Secretary Fontes.

Introducing the 2024 Seven Star Communities

The National Digital Inclusion Alliance, in partnership with AMERIND Critical Infrastructure, is proud to present the very first ever awardees of the Seven Star Communities program. 

CBRS Leaders Urge Commerce Department to Preserve Innovative Spectrum Sharing Framework

Spectrum for the Future was among 29 wireless innovators, leading businesses, and other spectrum users to urge U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to maintain and protect the Citizens Broadband Radio Service from changes that would undermine U.S. global wireless leadership. Protecting shared spectrum access in the CBRS band will ensure that American companies can continue to innovate and invest in critical shared spectrum technology that will provide an offramp from zero sum game spectrum fights and enable win-win spectrum solutions for both U.S. economic and national security.

Sponsor 

USTelecom

Date 
Thu, 04/10/2025 - 12:00

As policymakers in Washington (DC) and the states gear up for critical decisions about the future of connectivity, this event brings together leading broadband executives for important discussions on common-sense paths forward to connect our communities.


Metronet accuses Colorado city of municipal fiber favoritism

A new lawsuit from fiber operator Metronet accuses officials from the City of Colorado Springs of blocking the company's fiber network construction efforts in the city. The reason? The city's utility is building its own, rival fiber network.

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