ACCESS BROADBAND Act (S 1046) would direct the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to establish the Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth to help communities develop strategies to expand the deployment and use of high-speed Internet services. The office would conduct workshops, develop broadband training, create and distribute publications, consult with other federal agencies that offer broadband support programs to streamline and standardize their applications processes, and develop a central website for information about federal broadband programs.

Using information from NTIA, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that implementing S. 1046 would cost $8 million over the 2020-2025 period; any spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds. Of that amount, $4 million would be for five additional employees at NTIA (at an annual cost of about $170,000 each), $3 million for NTIA to develop and maintain a central website for federal broadband programs and to standardize federal agency applications for broadband grant assistance, and $1 million for other agencies to coordinate their efforts with NTIA.

By this letter, the Puerto Rican Telecommunications Alliance (PRTA) urgently requests the immediate attention of the Federal Communications Commission in a matter presently before Puerto Rico's House of Representatives. In the dark of night, Puerto Rico's Senate has already passed Senate Bill PS1333 that will impose taxes on Internet Access services in flagrant violation of the spirit of the Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA) and an affront to the US' and this FCC's goal of advancing the deployment of affordable and reliable high-speed broadband Internet Access services to all Americans, including the American citizen residents of Puerto Rico. Industry experts estimate the new tax would increase the existing tax burdens on providers of telecommunications and broadband services by up to 1,000% and would, for the very first time, impose taxes on Internet Access services. 

The PRTA hereby requests [FCC Chairman Ajit Pai] to take notice of the Puerto Rico legislature's attempt to tax the Internet and broadband Internet access services....Further, to consider the impact of such pending legislation will have on increasing the operating costs of telecommunications and broadband companies in Puerto Rico, how such massive increases in costs through the imposition of taxes will discourage investment, and ultimately increase the price of service to Puerto Rican consumers of broadband Internet Access services. And finally, to evaluate whether the proposed legislation would interfere with the reconstruction of Puerto Rico's telecommunications infrastructure or otherwise dilute, diminish, or redirect to unintended recipients the economic benefits that were bestowed upon the island by the U.S. Congress and FCC in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, recent earthquakes, and the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.

The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Managing Director (OMD) announces that the proposed universal service contribution factor for the third quarter of 2020 will be 0.265 or 26.5 percent. The Federal Communications Commission calculates the quarterly contribution factor based on the ratio of total projected quarterly costs of the universal service support mechanisms to contributors’ total projected collected end-user interstate and international telecommunications revenues, net of projected contributions.

If the FCC takes no action regarding the projections of demand and administrative expenses and the proposed contribution factor within the 14-day period following release of this Public Notice, they shall be deemed approved by the FCC. The Universal Service Administrative Company shall use the contribution factor to calculate universal service contributions for the third quarter of 2020.

Educators told the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pension (HELP) Committee on June 10 that access to technology is key to reopening schools in the new normal of COVID-19 and they could use some help in the form of government dollars. John King, former Education Secretary under President Barack Obama, said that before COVID-19, 79% of households had broadband versus only 66% of black households and 61% of Hispanic households. He said that lack of equitable access is not only a distance learning issue and an obstacle to hybrid remote/in person education, but "an emergency preparedness issue in the event of further widespread closures." He said to make sure home broadband access for students is even possible, the Congress needs to add at least $4 billion to the Federal Communications Commission's E-rate subsidy program for Wi-Fi hot spots and devices.

Matthew Blomsted, the Nebraska Department of Education commissioner of education, said that number one on the list of five back-to-school priorities was to "enhance technology infrastructure (broadband, devices, platforms, data privacy) for students and families."  He told the committee he was concerned that the state lacks "the technology infrastructure to provide remote learning for sustained periods of time as well as make the investments in the appropriate resources and supports." He added that without more federal money for K-12 education in the next COVID-19 aid bill, "it may be difficult for states that are already strapped for funding in several sectors to meet the critical needs to keep schools open." 

Long before the coronavirus pandemic, the tech industry yearned to prove its indispensability to the world. Its executives liked to describe their companies as “utilities.” They came by their self-aggrandizement honestly: The founding fathers of Big Tech really did view their creations as essential, and essentially good. In recent years, however, our infatuation with these creations has begun to curdle. Many Americans have come to view them as wellsprings of disinformation, outrage, and manipulation—and have noticed that the most profitable companies in human history haven’t always lived by the idealism of their slogans. The blessings bestowed by the online economy in this strange time are indisputable, and we should be grateful for them. But that’s not a reason to suspend skepticism of the tech industry as it attempts to make the most of the moment. In the years before the virus, critics began to prophesy that a handful of tech companies would soon grow more powerful than the government. Their scale and influence, and their ability to manipulate public opinion and shape markets, would permit them to reign unimpeded.

The protests continuing around the country are historic displays of social action. For political operatives, the mass gatherings are also a unique opportunity to harvest data on potential voters. Advocacy and voter-registration groups are gathering a trove of data from protests by tracking the cellphones of participants and sending them messages about registering to vote or taking other actions. The tactics, which one user called “deeply spooky yet extremely helpful,” are the latest example of ways political groups are using cellphone data to target voters. Tracking individuals through location data gathered by apps on their phones, often referred to as geofencing, has been used by businesses for years and has more recently caught on among political groups. That data allows firms to reach people’s phones with ads or other messaging—in real-time or later—without identifying individuals, proponents say. Political groups say the protests following the killing of George Floyd while in police custody, along with earlier lockdown protests, are opening up fresh opportunities to reach people who may not be registered to vote or weren’t previously politically active.