In August 2019, India’s government revoked Kashmir’s special autonomous status and locked down the region, which has a population of around 8 million. The lockdown was followed by the democratic world’s longest internet shutdown, which was partially lifted on Jan. 25 when authorities restored access to 2G internet. But the denial of high-speed internet still prevents people from using banking apps, paying their bills, and accessing services—even forcing some out of their homes.

830 utility-justice, environmental, faith, digital-rights and civil-rights groups sent a letter to Congress calling for the next congressional COVID-19 relief package to include a moratorium on broadband, electricity and water shutoff. The letter also calls for stimulus funds to address the systemic issues that lead to shutoffs. These issues include racial and economic inequities that can be addressed with improved affordable broadband programs including Lifeline; distributed solar energy; and percentage-of-income water-affordability initiatives.

Speedier 5G wireless technology is rekindling a long-running debate over the best way to reach America’s internet dead zones: by wire or by wave. Cellphone carriers including Verizon and T-Mobile  say new wireless technologies will let them serve more home-broadband subscribers without sending a technician to wire up a customer’s house. The companies have promised to build profitable services where other wireless broadband companies, like Clearwire, have failed to build a viable business, but they have yet to detail how many wireless homes they serve.

The COVID-19 crisis is exposing how the cracks in the US’s creaking digital infrastructure are potentially putting lives at risk, exclusive research shows. With most of the country on lockdown and millions relying on the internet for work, healthcare, education and shopping, research by M-Lab, an open source project which monitors global internet performance, showed that internet service slowed across the country after the lockdown. “This is going to kill people,” said Sascha Meinrath, a professor at Penn State University and co-founder of M-Lab.

Many national Internet service providers (ISPs) have introduced free and discounted plans to keep people connected during the crisis (though there are still holdouts). The charity of these companies is commendable, but their plans still leave many people disconnected, forcing them to choose between staying safe at home and accessing essential services. Eligibility oversights leave out households in need, and overwhelmed call centers make signing up for programs difficult.

Reps Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Peter King (R-NY) introduced the Advancing Connectivity during the Coronavirus to Ensure Support for Seniors (ACCESS) Act. In March, Sens Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA)  introduced the bill in the Senate (S. 3517). Specifically, the ACCESS Act would:

Google and Apple’s plan to team up to create new contact tracing technology to combat the coronavirus is already raising eyebrows among key policymakers in Washington.

Toggling between two computer screens instead of four. Slower wireless connections. Plain old cellphones — missed calls and all — standing in for highly programmed devices that allow instantaneous connections. Instant messaging and video conferencing replacing quick bursts of conversation across a floor.

Generous actions from internet service providers during the coronavirus pandemic prove that broad, now-repealed net neutrality rules were always unnecessary, said Roslyn Layton, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Layton said that service providers’ offers to waive cancellations and fees while many Americans are struggling financially demonstrate that ISPs are acting with customers’ best interests in mind and do not require close government oversight.

The Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences is announcing its first-ever cooperative rapid evidence synthesis. Here is what we have in mind: