NTCA — The Rural Broadband Association and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) asked the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to relax certain rules for the ReConnect rural broadband funding program. The ReConnect program covers some of the costs of deploying broadband to unserved rural areas where build-out costs are high. ReConnect 100% grant awards require matching funds, and currently, recipients must spend all matching funds before they can begin using grant funding. The associations ask the RUS to modify that requirement, arguing that it is “unnecessarily onerous – especially at a time when providers are compelled to monitor cash flows as customers increasingly struggle to pay bills.” Instead, the letter recommends that service providers should only be required to match 25% of the amount drawn from grant funds within each fiscal year.

Verizon executive Ronan Dunne, group CEO for Verizon Consumer, laid out a vision for Verizon 5G Home that foresees a time when consumers will buy home broadband service in the same way they buy wireless service today. It is just buying another line, or another device in Dunne’s vision, just like consumers do today with their wireless buying habits. “The nature of the line between the wireless business and wireline business is blurring,” said Dunne. “I don’t necessarily see them in the medium term as being two discreet markets anymore.” Instead of a 3 or 4 line wireless plan, consumers will buy a 4 or 5 line plan, with one line being their home broadband. Or they think of home broadband as just another device, another smartphone if you will. If a customer moves, they simply take their home broadband with them, just like they take their smartphone today.

The American space industry holds tremendous potential to address [the challenge of the digital divide] through next-generation satellite broadband. The coming proliferation of small low-earth-orbit satellites promises to unleash internet connectivity with latency and speeds superior to existing satellite broadband options and competitive with cable and fiber offerings. And they will reach places that, due to difficult terrain and distance from population centers, have not shared in the benefits of expanding terrestrial networks. 

China is developing multiple government-backed satellite broadband providers that could compete with American companies to carry traffic around the world. While the Chinese government describes its effort as focused on domestic customers, we cannot count on China’s forbearance in any important technology, particularly if it might carry sensitive communications. The Federal Communications Commission must continue to adopt satellite policies that encourage American leadership in this area.

Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) called on Attorney General Bill Barr and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to investigate Twitter for willfully violating American sanctions on Iran by providing social media accounts and services to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the Iranian Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif. Both officials are designated under Executive Order (E.O) 13876 for connections to the Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran, which is the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism.

President Donald Trump's effort to regulate social media companies' content decisions may face an uphill battle from Federal Communications Commission regulators who have previously said they cannot oversee the conduct of internet firms. In August 2018, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said, "The government is not here to regulate these platforms. We don't have the power to do that." Former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, a Republican, wrote on Twitter that the review ordered by President Trump is "based on political #speech management of platforms. So many wobbly parts to this govt 'nudge.' I don’t see how it survives." 

Another barrier is timing. The FCC will spend at least a few months reviewing and likely seeking public comment before potentially drafting proposed regulations. It could take a year or longer to finalize any rules, long after the November presidential election.

A central question of our time is whether we can continue enjoying the Good Internet while suppressing the Bad Internet. The greatest threat to ordinary Americans comes from the Internet’s role in providing so-called critical infrastructure — cyber-networks for finance, power, transportation, health care, communications and shopping, to name a few. I am not a cyber-expert, but here’s a brief outline of what I think desirable:

1. Build a cyber-firewall — as Russia and China are attempting to do — to keep out mass foreign attacks. They close their cyber-borders; we leave ours open. It’s a self-inflicted wound. (China’s and Russia’s policies also reflect a desire to purge the Internet of subversive political views.)
2. Switch cyber-traffic used for operational control (financial transfers, power distribution, transport networks) to private networks and reserve the Internet for nonessential informational exchanges. This would reduce, though not eliminate, the threat of losing critical infrastructure.
3. Build redundancy into the system, with separate defenses and passwords, so that breaches in one system can be instantly remedied in an attack.
4. Mandate that the most sophisticated computer chips be made in the United States. In case of a crisis, we wouldn’t immediately face shortages of chips needed by the military.

I recognize that this approach represents a basic switch in U.S. policy, which has favored an “open” Internet not burdened with nationalistic policies. But let’s face it: That game is long lost. Like it or not, the Internet is being twisted to serve national goals.

This report argues that Facebook, Twitter, and Google’s targeted advertising business models, and the opaque algorithmic systems that support them, are the root cause of their failure to staunch the flow of misinformation. This report reinforces the need to adopt a human rights framework for platform accountability. We propose concrete areas where Congress needs to act to mitigate the harms of misinformation and other dangerous speech without compromising free expression and privacy: transparency and accountability for online advertising, starting with political ads; federal privacy law; and corporate governance reform.