COVID-19 highlights society’s inability to cope, even amid the technology prowess of the US.  In the land that invented the microchip, we have neglected the fundamentals. One particular concern is how internet broadband is not available to many workers and students in some rural and inner-city areas and on Native American lands. If you can’t work or take classes from home because you don't have internet, you are at a distinct disadvantage.

The coronavirus pandemic happened and, in a breath, home internet went from desired option to life-sustaining necessity. If the shutdown is responsible for limiting the spread of the infectious respiratory disease that has killed more than 1,100 Pennsylvanians in a month, then the internet is why it isn’t more. And that is why the World Wide Web has to be wide enough to work for the whole world.  Broadband access needs to be viewed as a utility little different from water or electricity or gas. It needs to be as accessible as the sidewalks that connect us to our schools and jobs and banks.

Smartphone users in all of the top 50 US markets spent increasing amounts of time connected to Wi-Fi during the end of March, according to new Opensignal data, aligning with behavioral shifts at a time when states across the country ramped their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Opensignal’s analysis noted that users typically spend more time on Wi-Fi during the weekend and on public holidays, meaning it’s a good indicator of more time at home. 

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai’s monthly drip drip drip of process deregulation has become a flood, at least temporarily, as rules for how broadband subsidy money is spent, how spectrum can be used -- and who can use it -- are being modified and waived right and left. The avowed goal is to keep America connected at a time when broadband is a literal lifeline for a homebound populace.

April 20 was originally the deadline by which ICANN, which oversees the internet's address system, would issue its decision on whether to stop or allow the transfer of the dot-org (.org) domain registry to a private equity firm. The proposed deal — which would turn over a part of the internet typically used by nonprofits to a for-profit enterprise, Ethos Capital — has for months raised alarm among charities worried they might see the cost of their sites skyrocket.

Home-schooling looks a little different for some families across the country, especially those who can't afford unlimited internet access. Tawana Brown of South Bend, Indiana begins each day by driving her family to a parking lot where school buses that are equipped with Wi-Fi are parked. She has been keeping up with this daily schedule after coronavirus concerns led to the closure of schools in the South Bend school district.

The impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on the daily lives of billions of people — including elites in nearly every country — has set the stage for many profound changes that will take place when the current pandemic is over. High on the list of things that will look different to almost everyone is the internet. For billions of people in dozens of countries, the internet will no longer be an exotic medium of interest to some people. It was their lifeline for weeks or months.

As the Senate considers additional measures to support small businesses around the country struggling with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), John Kennedy (R-LA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and John Boozman (R-AR) sent a letter to Senate leadership urging them to ensure any future legislation make thousands of local newspapers, TV, and radio stations around the country eligible for small business assistance under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

A recent Pew Research Center study found that Americans’ attitudes toward the coronavirus pandemic vary sharply depending on where they get their news. Just 35 percent of people who mostly watch MSNBC, for instance, said the media had exaggerated the risks of the virus, compared with 79 percent of people who mostly watch Fox News and 54 percent for CNN.

The internet’s surge protectors have just survived a major convulsion. Hundreds of millions of people have suddenly found themselves working — and movie-watching, game-playing and video-calling — from home throughout the day. The result, according to Matthew Prince, head of internet infrastructure company Cloudflare, has been a spike in demand that would have brought any other public utility to its knees. His company’s network has seen demand rise more than 50 per cent — the kind of spike that “would be a disaster” in a sewer system or electric grid, he said.