Alisa Valentin

The Blueprint for Equitable Digital Participation was designed to center the lived experiences of those directly impacted by digital inequities. Participants provided recommendations that ultimately pass the ‘kitchen table’ test—policies needed to help people live with dignity, opportunity, and the ability to thrive—for how to solve the digital divide in low-to-moderate-income households across America. Key takeaways include: 

If you fail to properly diagnose the problem, you will fail in your abilities to solve the problem. The same is true for the digital divide, which continues to impact millions of unserved and underserved communities across the nation. The Federal Communications Commission is once again invoking the term ‘streamlining’ as justification for creating a permission structure that allows providers to evade accountability while consumers experience the consequences of distorted broadband maps.

Inequity is not inevitable. It surfaces through rhetoric from leaders, personnel that mirror the values (or lack thereof) of said leaders, funding structures, policy implementation, and court decisions. In other words, inequity does not appear out of thin air. Inequity begins with an idea from someone’s imagination. It is only through power, resource allocation, and replication that an idea can take shape, gain traction, and impact lives.

The denial of equitable access has been a defining feature throughout American history.

Federal Communications Commissioner Simington’s sudden departure effectively leaves the agency without a bipartisan quorum, which stalls its ability to move forward with any meaningful actions—a move that will likely result in painful consequences throughout the communications ecosystem for consumers. From helping students access online educational tools to ensuring workers can apply for new opportunities or patients can reach their telehealth providers, the FCC is responsible for connecting our communities to affordable, reliable high-speed internet.

The president and the Senate must both urgently work to nominate and confirm a Democratic Commissioner to replace Commissioner Starks and preserve the seat of Commissioner Gomez so the FCC maintains its historic and present bipartisanship. The failure of the president and Senate to do so would threaten the agency’s ability to strengthen our democratic media ecosystem and ensure that broadband is accessible and affordable to all communities without discrimination.

Public Knowledge submitted reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission regarding the In Re: Delete, Delete, Delete request for comments. Public Knowledge's comments focus on the insufficient legal basis for the Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding. "Public Knowledge urges the FCC to terminate this unlawful proceeding and follow the appropriate steps, as outlined by law, if it seeks to delete, delete, delete some of the very rules that protect the public the most. The Commission must remember its core constituency—the public, not the President.

In light of sweeping actions across the federal government, simply put—the vibes are off at the Federal Communications Commission.

A common restaurant principle—“Accuracy over speed”—should guide our country’s broadband funding initiatives, particularly the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, both now and in the future. Recently, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing titled, “From Introduction to Implementation: A BEAD Program Progress Report,” and while some lines of questioning seemed to grasp at straws, there were important points that should be revisited in future hearings.

The process of creating effective, pro-consumer policies is often filled with opportunities, challenges, and ambiguity. The process has been no different for the Federal Communications Commission’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which allowed 23 million low-income households an opportunity to reliably connect to affordable high-speed internet.