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  2. August 2025

August 2025

The UK triggers a global internet argument

The United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act was passed in 2023 to protect users, particularly children, from harmful online content. The law puts age verification limits on a whole range of material — pornography, hate speech, content promoting drugs and weapons, online harassment, and depictions of violence. The act’s verification provisions went into effect in late July. As soon as it did, UK internet users found themselves having to upload IDs and selfies to prove they were old enough to access certain content.

BEAD may be a big disappointment, but fiber demand from AI is hot, hot, hot

Perhaps it’s a sign of the times in the fiber industry, which has taken a big blow because of revisions to the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, but the Fiber Broadband Association’s latest webinar focused on the opportunities that fiber players have to connect Artificial Intelligence data centers. Speaking on the FBA webinar, Michael Render, CEO of RVA Market Research and Consulting, said everyone has heard about the major challenges to building new AI data centers, including the procurement of land, energy, water and semiconductors.

Freedom is an Endless Meeting: Coalition Building and the Pursuit of Digital Equity

You probably know Benton for our newsletters and our own reporting on what is happening in the broadband and tech policy world. But in the last few years, we have been working at the state and community level—with advocates, policymakers, and just passionate folks who want better broadband for crying out loud. In 2023, we launched the Broadband State Education Project in Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Arizona, and later expanded into Western North Carolina.

These protocols will help AI agents navigate our messy lives

A growing number of companies are launching AI agents that can do things on your behalf—actions like sending an email, making a document, or editing a database. Initial reviews for these agents have been mixed at best, though, because they struggle to interact with all the different components of our digital lives. Part of the problem is that we are still building the necessary infrastructure to help agents navigate the world.

Speech

Freedom is an Endless Meeting: Coalition Building and the Pursuit of Digital Equity

Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

Tuesday, August 5, 2025

Groups to FCC: Continue Assessing Broadband Affordability, Adoption

The Federal Communications Commission should still assess broadband affordability and adoption as part of its annual report on deployment, consumer advocates told the agency. The FCC is set to vote on a notice of inquiry that would kick off its annual report on whether broadband “is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion.” The public draft of the inquiry sa

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