Google Fiber says dozens of customers remain without home internet nearly two weeks after a major winter storm knocked out service for many across Kansas City. The company says technicians are "working night and day" to get subscribers back online, but many customers say they're fed up and that their trust in the Silicon Valley brand they once admired is gone. "We're actively looking to switch providers," says Julie Gronquist-Blodgett. "Our experience now is counter to how I used to view Google." Gronquist-Blodgett says she and her husband have called Google Fiber multiple times and not been able to get a clear answer for why their outage has persisted, even as neighbors have had their service restored. She says not being able to watch TV, which they get through the Internet, is one thing, but their home security cameras and baby monitors also run through Wi-Fi.  

Three districts in northwestern Alaska are pioneering a high-speed fiber-optic cable connection that has the potential to transform how education is delivered in the state—and shrink a connectivity gap between rural Alaska and the majority of American schools. A little-known Anchorage-based company called Quintillion established rapid underwater pathways between global commerce centers, connecting an Alaska branch (phase one) to Asia (phase two) and the United Kingdom (phase three). The enterprise is aimed squarely at international stock traders who could, someday, hook into the fiber to shave milliseconds off their transaction speeds—a prospect worth millions of dollars. In March, Nome (AK) Public Schools became the first school district to connect to the cable. The fiber-optic route exists here in large part because of global warming, which has led to Arctic Sea ice inching farther away from Alaska’s shoreline each season.

The Trump administration has banned contractors from using Huawei tech, and major carriers do not use Huawei equipment that could compromise that contract work. But the same isn’t true for smaller companies without those contracts. In the face of the unfolding controversy, the Federal Communications Commission has proposed rules that could prevent companies from using agency funds to buy equipment from businesses deemed a security risk — or possibly from using equipment from companies like Huawei at all. Small carriers will likely feel the brunt of that policy. To build out its infrastructure, those small carriers say they often rely on Huawei, which has become the largest provider of telecommunications equipment in the world, offering whatever tools a company might need. Some of the companies argue that the Huawei-made equipment can mean several million dollars in savings. In a filing to the FCC, the Rural Wireless Association, which represents small service providers as well as Huawei itself, has claimed that the costs associated with dumping Huawei products would be substantial. 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is planning to integrate the underlying infrastructure of Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp, allowing users to message each other between apps, but some lawmakers, regulators, and security experts are already beginning to question whether the benefits outweigh the consequences. “Good for encryption but bad for competition and privacy,” tweeted Seante Communciations Subcommittee Ranking Member Brian Schatz (D-HI). Sen Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said, “Facebook and Google’s dominance over data has already harmed consumers and the economy. The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice must take Big Tech’s invasive, anticompetitive practices seriously and begin to vigorously enforce our laws.” “When it comes to privacy, we can no longer give Facebook the benefit of the doubt,” said Sen Ed Markey (D-MA). “Now that Facebook plans to integrate its messaging services, we need more than mere assurances from the company that this move will not come at the expense of users’ data privacy and security. We cannot allow platform integration to become privacy disintegration.”

The Justice Department announced criminal charges against Huawei, the world’s largest communications equipment manufacturer, and one of its top executives — a move likely to intensify trade tensions between the US and China. A 13-count indictment filed in New York City against Huawei, two of its affiliated firms, and its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, accuses Huawei and an affiliate of bank fraud and wire fraud. The company is also charged with violating US sanctions on Iran and conspiring to obstruct justice related to the investigation. The Justice Department also accused Huawei of conspiring to steal trade secrets from a competitor, T-Mobile. The charges relate to a criminal investigation that stemmed from a 2014 civil suit between the two companies. In that civil case, T-Mobile accused Huawei of stealing proprietary robotics technology that the telecom company used to diagnose quality-control issues in cellphones. Huawei was found guilty in May 2017.