Far too many Americans are cut off from access to affordable high-speed Internet even as more of our core systems go digital. Unchecked, the result will be an America even more unequal than the one we see today. The United States has failed in the equitable delivery of this public good. The disparity will almost certainly lead to further inequity. No American should suffer the indignity of searching for Internet. Starbucks WiFi is not a social safety net.

Competition is key. As the Free Press reported, “Inadequate choice and competition among providers is one of the factors that results in entire market segments and demographic groups being underserved or unserved at a reasonable price. ”Congress must also pass sweeping legislation, on par with the greatest infrastructure initiatives in our nation’s history, that treats broadband as essential infrastructure and ensures affordable Internet in every American household. The House Democratic Plan to Connect All Americans to Affordable Broadband Internet, an $80 billion proposal put forward in April, is a good start.

The Internet was founded to connect. As access to America’s fundamental systems and basic rights moves online, now is the time to bridge the divide. As the events of 2020 have made clear, a quality Internet connection isn’t optional. Providing one to all Americans is a necessity.

The US Chamber of Commerce’s Technology Engagement Center (C_TEC) released nine policy principles aimed at closing America’s digital divide. The principles include policy recommendations for funding high-cost broadband, bridging the homework gap, expanding telehealth, and reducing permitting barriers to expand connectivity. The policy principles were developed by C_TEC’s Telecommunications & E-Commerce Policy Committee, a group of 90 companies and trade associations representing wireless and wireline carriers, satellite providers, broadcasters, technology companies and other stakeholders. 

 Broadband Funding Principles

1. Technology Neutrality: Allow all technologies [and providers] to compete for funds to serve truly unserved areas, prohibit duplicative funding, and establish funding programs without existing Section 254 limitations, such as existing ETC requirements. 
2. Collocation: Support collocation by enabling funds to be used for leasing tower space in addition to capital expenditures.
3. Speed to Market: In a COVID environment, speed matters and funding should be distributed to those who can stand up broadband network quickly. 

 Homework Gap Principles

1. Funding Source: Fund out of general appropriations, not universal service contributions.
2. Program Design: A separate program from E-rate, but to the extent FCC finds useful it can borrow E-rate rules.
3. Targeted and Temporary:  The program should last for only the duration of the national emergency and be targeted to low-income households without a home broadband connection or in jeopardy of losing their broadband connection, including related equipment and/or a computer (laptop, tablet, or desktop computer).
4. Technology Neutrality: Allow any technology.
5. Eligibility: Limited to; 1) connectivity (wired or wireless), 2) service equipment (e.g. modems, routers, hotspots), and 3) devices (e.g. tablets/computers/smartphones).

In addition to these policy principles, the Chamber is also calling on Congress to address permitting relief that will encourage deployment. Today’s permitting hurdles, including overly-burdensome fees, are hindering broadband buildout and reform would provide much-needed certainty.

Sen Tina Smith (D-MN) led her Senate colleagues in calling on the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to speed up spending the resources allocated within COVID-19 relief legislation to expand broadband access for Minnesota families and people across the country. In her letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, Sen Smith and her colleagues point out that Congress recognized the urgent need for broadband access in rural communities, and made sure the CARES Act included $100 million for the ReConnect Program. However, much of the allocated funds are still unspent. "he COVID-19 pandemic has proven that broadband isn’t just nice, it is necessary for our nation’s economy to work for everyone," they wrote.

Sen Smith’s letter was also signed by Sens Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Doug Jones (D-AL), Jeffrey A. Merkley (D-OR), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Richard J. Durbin (D-IL).

The paper stems from a platform competition research project led by Public Knowledge and supported by Omidyar Network. The paper explores the challenge of balancing the significant gatekeeper control that dominant platforms like Apple and Google have over both their operating systems and app stores, with the benefits that app stores create for both developers and users. The paper argues that competition between platforms for users and developers cannot alone ensure that app stores and their associated software platforms will be operated in a way that promotes consumer rights, the public interest, and broader economic benefits. The paper also suggests specific measures that should be implemented by dominant app stores to promote these interests. This paper recommends:

• That platforms only apply in-app purchase rules to genuine app functionality that could otherwise have been a single up-front purchase; 
• That platforms allow users to “sideload” apps but only from recognized developers (under a code-signing system that recognizes multiple certificate authorities); 
• That platforms follow certain guardrails to ensure the ability of independent app and hardware developers to compete on an even playing field; 
• That platforms allow archiving, emulation, and transfer of apps and digital content; and
• That developers be given more business model flexibility, such as offering traditional free trials of paid apps, and upgrade pricing.

A new weekly Household Pulse Survey from the US Census Bureau offers a rich opportunity to quantify the impact of COVID-19 on children’s education during this time. It includes questions about the availability of digital devices and the internet in homes across the US, which allow us to explore the concern that access to distance learning is out of the reach of many of the most vulnerable students. Based on four weeks of data, our findings are bleak:

• Around 1 in 10 of the poorest children in the US has little or no access to technology for learning. 12.2 percent of respondents from households earning less than $25,000 a year said a digital device was rarely or never available for a child to use for learning and 9.8 percent said the same of the internet.
• Poor children living in poor states are even more likely to be at a disadvantage. Across the U.S., 4.3 percent of households earning less than $35,000 per year say a device is never available for a child’s learning. For the same income bracket in the five poorest states, this jumps to 6.3 percent, while in the five richest, it drops to 1.6 percent. Median incomes in Mississippi are just over half of those in Washington (DC) which means, among other things, less tax revenue available for digital infrastructure or services designed to even out inequities driven by wage differences.
• Nine in 10 children of employed caregivers have access to both a device and the internet for learning always, or most of the time. This on demand availability drops around five percentage points for children living in households where caregivers are unemployed.
• Fully 26.5 percent of children living in homes where there is often not enough food to go around—more than 1 in 4—are rarely or never able to get online to learn.

The data shine a light on two major issues administrations in the U.S. must confront as they start to plan for the new academic year. First, extra support will be critical for students whose family circumstances have made it difficult or impossible to continue learning during the pandemic. This means supporting teachers with tools to diagnose students as well as with the materials and pedagogical approaches to serve the learning needs of what is certain to be an even wider range of student skills. Second, it will be important to plan for further periods where children need to learn from home for public health reasons, or where it may not be possible to have all students in classes and maintain appropriate social distancing. Some communities may need to adopt policies such as giving preferential access to school-based learning for the most disadvantaged, since more privileged students will be better equipped to study online. It also means designing and resourcing initiatives to improve poor children’s access to technology, either through equipment loan programs, capital investment in better internet access in relevant neighborhoods, or both.

New US Agency for Global Media CEO Michael Pack swept into office like a man on a mission, firing the top executives and advisory boards of federally funded international broadcasters. A new lawsuit alleges he broke federal law in doing so. On June 9, according to the lawsuit filed in US District Court for the District of Columbia, Pack's aides ordered the international broadcasters under his agency's supervision to "freeze" all new hiring, staff promotions, and other contractual obligations. The next day, Pack informed the heads of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Office of Cuba Broadcasting and the Open Technology Fund that they were fired, effective immediately. He also disbanded their separate bipartisan advisory boards and replaced them with five Trump administration political appointees and an attorney who works for a Christian legal defense and advocacy group. The lawsuit was filed by four former members of the advisory boards -- including two former US ambassadors with prominent roles in the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, Ryan Crocker and Karen Kornbluh. They contend Pack has broken federal guarantees of the broadcasters' journalistic independence.