Sunday, November 16, 2025
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Cox Mobile surveyed a sample of U.S. teens, seniors, and members of the sandwich generation to learn more about their online habits and safety concerns. Key findings show that while all generations face digital threats, the sandwich generation bears the greatest burden, with 86 percent saying managing online safety for their children and parents adds stress to their life.
- Parents outscroll teens: Nearly 100 percent of sandwich generation respondents expressed some level of dependency on connected devices, outranking teens and seniors. They’re more active on their devices, too.
- Talking about online safety: The sandwich generation is being proactive about online safety with their teens, with 71 percent currently using tools or settings to monitor or control their children’s online activity.
- Online security issues increase with age: The sandwich generation and seniors have experienced more online cybersecurity issues than teens over the last 12 months.
FOCUS Broadband Connects Thousands of Rural Homes and Businesses in Chowan and Perquimans Counties (NC)
FOCUS Broadband has announced that high-speed internet service is now available to more than 7,000 addresses in Chowan and Perquimans counties (NC), with additional addresses coming soon. Residents and businesses in rural areas of both counties may now take advantage of fiber optic broadband service with speeds up to 5 Gig, enabling them to work and learn remotely, access telehealth services, and more. FOCUS Broadband began its efforts to bring high-speed internet to Chowan and Perquimans counties nearly five years ago by partnering with administrations from both counties to pursue funding through broadband expansion programs. In 2022, the company was awarded $8 million in grant funds from the North Carolina Department of Information Technology Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology Grant program to bring fiber optic broadband service to more than 3,600 addresses in Chowan and Perquimans counties. Building on that success, FOCUS Broadband received an additional $7.2 million in GREAT Grant funding in 2023 to extend service to an additional 1,700 addresses across both counties.
Marshall County officials, the Illinois Office of Broadband, and Surf Internet gathered at Lake Wildwood near Varna (IL) to celebrate ongoing fiber-optic construction funded through a combination of state and private investment. The event underscored how cooperation between county officials and Surf advanced the Connect Illinois grant project in this largely rural area. Delays had mounted early on as Surf navigated county permitting requirements that require utilities to obtain individual easements or consent forms from every property owner along the construction route. The rule, designed to protect landowners’ rights, can make broadband expansion challenging: when even one property can’t be accessed, it can prevent service for surrounding homes and businesses. Through a collaborative problem-solving process, county leaders and Surf Internet worked together to find a practical solution that kept construction on schedule to meet the grant’s end-of-year deadline. Without a resolution, the funding and the residents set to benefit from it would have been at risk. The county ultimately approved a framework that allowed Surf to install fiber safely within a narrow corridor along county roads, thereby eliminating the need for individual easements. The agreement cleared a key barrier and set construction in motion to connect 273 homes and businesses near and within the Lake Wildwood community before the end of 2025.
Power limits—not just lack of spectrum—are a key bottleneck for low-earth orbit satellite deployment, panelists argued at a New America policy event. As the Federal Communications Commission considers how to update its satellite spectrum sharing rules, it’s also thinking about revamping its Equivalent Power Flux Density limits so that LEO providers can boost their satellite power levels—and in turn up their capacity. Joe Kane, director of broadband and spectrum policy at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, said revising the existing rules makes sense because they “don’t really envision a world in which we have [thousands of schedules] in multiple different constellations going around the earth all the time.” The FCC’s EPFD limits are based on standards established by the International Telecommunication Union in the 1990s. The idea was to prevent interference between geostationary and non-geostationary satellites. Obviously, there are a lot more LEO satellites now than there were thirty years ago.
Generative artificial intelligence draws on vast troves of data to create new content that mimics human forms of thinking, processing, and creation. Alongside an unprecedented rate of adoption across all sectors, GenAI is reshaping education systems in unprecedented ways. The technology is a double-edged sword, creating tremendous opportunities but also posing considerable risks and challenges for schools. 5 questions state boards of education should ask about GenAI
- Why should our state adopt or review policies and frameworks to guide the use of AI in schools?
- How are leading states addressing AI in K-12?
- Are there guiding principles for AI frameworks in education? What are they, and how are they cultivated?
- In a rapidly changing landscape, how can state AI guidance and policies remain relevant and useful?
- What resources and professional development do our educators need to support their own AI literacy?
Artificial intelligence is rewriting the playbook for crime, from cheap deepfake scams and AI-written ransomware to mass identity hijacks and critical-infrastructure hacks. This new class of AI-supercharged crime is putting lives and financial systems at risk. But police training, laws, and cross-border tools aren't keeping up. Off-the-shelf AI lowers the skill level and cost of carrying out attacks, enabling small crews to execute schemes that previously required nation-state resources. Crimes can now hit millions at once with voice clones and account takeovers, while local agencies are trained and funded to chase one case at a time. Still, few police academies are training cadets on spotting AI or computer crimes, leaving enforcement to federal authorities, who then need international cooperation to stop worldwide syndicates.
Benton (www.benton.org) provides the only free, reliable, and non-partisan daily digest that curates and distributes news related to universal broadband, while connecting communications, democracy, and public interest issues. Posted Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are factually accurate, their sometimes informal tone may not always represent the tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang (headlines AT benton DOT org), Grace Tepper (grace AT benton DOT org), and Zoe Walker (zwalker AT benton DOT org) — we welcome your comments.
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