In an era that’s buzzing with talk of autonomous vehicles and virtual wallets, mere access to broadband internet remains out of reach for many. And while Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai frequently reminds the public that his top priority is closing the digital divide, his actions have made it harder, again and again, for Americans to get internet access. He has been leading the charge to gut Lifeline, the federal program that subsidizes phone and broadband connections for low-income people in the United States. He created a new agency committee that was tasked with advising the FCC how to effectively encourage broadband deployment. Pai said he was “excited that the [committee] will soon be getting to work on recommendations that will help break down barriers to broadband deployment.” Unfortunately, Chairman Pai stacked the committee with industry representatives and much of its work benefits the industry’s interest in turning a profit, as opposed to actually making broadband more accessible. The committee’s work would in fact make it nearly impossible for cities and towns to build their own internet networks, an increasingly popular option for communities that are being bypassed by private internet service providers. Instead of encouraging deployment, this committee has worked to limit local communities’ ability to solve the problems that the market (and FCC) won’t.

[Cat Blake is the policy and program manager at Next Century Cities, a coalition of 190 municipalities focused on fast, affordable, reliable broadband for all]

One of the most interesting aspects of the recently-completed Connect America Fund (CAF) II auction is the strong showing by smaller, non-traditional service providers. The second biggest winner, for example, was Wisper — a company little known outside southern Illinois and parts of neighboring states, where the company offers fixed wireless broadband, primarily in rural areas, including some areas the company has served for more than a decade. Wisper CEO Nathan Stooke spoke about the company’s $220 million award to help cover the cost of bringing broadband to additional rural areas near the company’s existing operations. The CAF II auction awarded funding to bring broadband to rural areas where the service is not available today, with funding going to the companies that offered to deploy service at the lowest level of support. When Wisper brings broadband to communities that previously lacked it, Stooke said, “you feel like the white knight riding in on your horse.”

A new battle for cellular airwaves is under way as governments around the world start to auction off spectrum for mobile coverage that could power near-instant video downloads and help run factories, control gadgets and navigate driverless cars. Countries have long sold airwave rights for cellular service within their borders but places like Britain and Spain this year held their first major auctions for radio frequencies needed to make so-called 5G cellular networks, which could be much faster than today’s mobile networks, a reality. Italy made a splash with a blockbuster sale—spinning off $7.6 billion of frequencies to several big European carriers, including Telecom Italia SpA and Vodafone Group PLC. South Korean mobile operators snapped up $3.3 billion of spectrum there. The Federal Communications Commission plans to hold the first major US auction for 5G-friendly airwaves. The frequencies sold at these auctions are the ones that governments and carriers think will be crucial for a broad rollout of 5G, which promises to eventually replace today’s fastest 4G networks.

Should American citizens get a new Bill of Rights for the internet? Given all the damage that giant tech companies have done of late, many Democrats think the answer is yes. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) even suggested that a new agency could be created to manage tech’s growing impact. “Something needs to be done,” she said to “protect the privacy of the American people” and “come up with overarching values” — a set of principles that everyone can agree on and adhere to. Call it a Bill of Rights for the internet. Rep Pelosi charged Rep Ro Khanna — the Democratic representative whose California district is home to Apple, Intel and Yahoo — with the creation of that list. After consulting with think tanks like the Center for Democracy and Technology and big Silicon Valley companies like Apple, Google and Facebook, as well as some of tech’s biggest brains, like Nicole Wong and Tim Berners-Lee, he came up with a list of 10 principles that cover topics such as privacy, net neutrality and discrimination. It’s certainly well past time to see something from the politicians whose job it is to protect the rest of us.

Public health officials say that using text messages, social media platforms, and other digital tools can be key in both tracking the health care behavior of people and disseminating lifesaving information during emergency situations. During public health emergencies — such as the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo — it's difficult for public health officials to monitor people's health care behavior. Digital polls and social media monitoring can complement physical tracking in a way that could save time, money and offer more safety to health care workers, according to New York University's Rumi Chunara.

Brett M. Kavanaugh has won Senate confirmation to become an associate justice of the Supreme Court and will take his seat on Tuesday, October 9. Although Judge Kavanaugh has discussed his dissent on network neutrality, the Supreme Court's agenda for the coming term now has very few cases dealing with technology, telecommunications or media. Several cases scheduled to come before the Court may produce decisions that affect these sectors though -- especially the regulatory aspects. Kavanaugh's background has spurred speculation on how he will vote, but at this point there is no way to know how the court will rule on these cases.