Friday, June 5, 2020
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Of course technology perpetuates racism. It was designed that way.
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Today the United States crumbles under the weight of two pandemics: coronavirus and police brutality. Both wreak physical and psychological violence. Both disproportionately kill and debilitate black and brown people. And both are animated by technology that we design, repurpose, and deploy—whether it’s contact tracing, facial recognition, or social media. We often call on technology to help solve problems. But when society defines, frames, and represents people of color as “the problem,” those solutions often do more harm than good. So the question we have to confront is whether we will continue to design and deploy tools that serve the interests of racism and white supremacy. Of course, it’s not a new question at all.
If we don’t want our technology to be used to perpetuate racism, then we must make sure that we don’t conflate social problems like crime or violence or disease with black and brown people. When we do that, we risk turning those people into the problems that we deploy our technology to solve, the threat we design it to eradicate.
[Charlton McIlwain is a professor of media, culture, and communication at New York University]
The Federal Communications Commission' Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force, Wireline Competition Bureau, and the Office of Economics and Analytics announce they are ready to authorize Connect America Fund Phase II auction (Auction 903) support for the Auction 903 winning bids. To be authorized to receive the total 10-year support amounts, the long-form applicants are required to submit acceptable irrevocable stand-by letter(s) of credit and Bankruptcy Code opinion letter(s) from their legal counsel for each state where they have winning bids that are ready to be authorized by the applicable deadline, June 18, 2020
Senators Markey, Wyden, and Blumenthal Press AT&T Following Reports of Potential Net Neutrality Violation
Sens Edward Markey (D-MA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) wrote to AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson regarding reports that AT&T has a policy of not counting use of HBO Max, a streaming service that the company owns, against AT&T customers’ data caps. Before the Federal Communications Commission acted in 2017 to undo net neutrality, the FCC had the authority to prohibit unjust, unreasonable and discriminatory practices by internet providers, including “zero-rating,” the term used to describe the practice of allowing users to access certain content without the requisite data usage counting towards the caps under users’ plans. The FCC previously noted that this activity can “present significant risks to consumers and competition in downstream industry sectors because of network operators’ potentially unreasonable discrimination in favor of their own affiliates.”
“According to recent reporting and comments from AT&T executives, your company has a policy of favoring a specific streaming service in a manner that appears to runs contrary to your stated support for a free and open internet,” write the senators. “The Trump FCC may have gutted critical net neutrality protections, but AT&T nonetheless has a responsibility to avoid any policies or practices that harm consumers and stifle competition.”
House Commerce Committee Republican Leader Greg Walden (R-OR) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Republican Leader Bob Latta (R-OH) urged Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA) to hold a hearing on bridging the digital divide:
"We write to urge you to hold a hearing to examine ways to close the digital divide so that all Americans may experience the economic, educational, and health care benefits that access to broadband service provides. The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the need for connectivity, as millions of Americans transition to working remotely. Children need broadband to be able to do their schoolwork from home. Some Americans who do not have access to reliable broadband connections travel to the nearest parking lot to be able to connect to the Internet. It is our duty to examine these issues and work in a bipartisan manner to close the digital divide.... In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, communications companies have stepped up to address these barriers, and many have responded by offering free or reduced services, continuing services for those unable to pay, and offering additional data to make sure Americans remained connected during this time. Other companies have donated devices to make sure children are able to do their homework.... It is critical to examine potential solutions to close the homework gap and simultaneously take steps to reduce regulatory barriers to close the digital divide. These actions will promote competition and broadband infrastructure deployment that will long outlast the current crisis."
The coronavirus pandemic caused big Internet service providers to put data caps on hold for a few months, but one small ISP is going a big step further and canceling the arbitrary monthly limits permanently. Antietam Broadband, which serves Washington County in Maryland, announced that it "has permanently removed broadband data usage caps for all customers," retroactive to mid-March when the company first temporarily suspended data-cap overage fees.
The decision to permanently drop the cap was made partly because of "learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic as more people worked and learned remotely," Antietam explained. "During this period customers moved into broadband packages that more accurately reflected their broadband needs." Comcast and AT&T have both since extended the data-cap holiday to June 30 but haven't promised to extend it any further or get rid of the caps permanently.
Wisconsin, Colorado, Illinois, Oregon, and New Hampshire join 13 other states who are partnering in the National Broadband Availability Map (NBAM) program. With the addition of five new states, the NBAM is another step closer to creating a national platform that can help inform policymakers and expand Internet coverage across the United States.
The NBAM is a geographic information system platform that allows for the visualization and analysis of federal, state and commercially available data sets. This includes data from the Federal Communications Commission, US Census Bureau, Universal Service Administrative Company, Department of Agriculture, Ookla, Measurement Lab, and the state governments. The mapping platform provides users, including administrators from the 18 participating states, with access to the NBAM and its data to better inform broadband projects and funding decisions in their states.
Billions of people don’t have the option to turn to the web in times of need or normality. A gross digital divide holds back almost half the planet when it most needs the web. This divide is most acutely experienced in developing countries. But the challenge extends to the wealthiest nations, too. The Alliance for Affordable Internet, an initiative of the World Wide Web Foundation, has outlined urgent actions that governments and companies should take to provide this lifeline to more people as quickly as possible.
- Governments must lead the way. They must invest in network infrastructure, not only in urban centres, but in rural settings where market forces alone fail to connect residents. And because data affordability remains one of the biggest barriers to access, these networks must be efficient. And, to connect everyone, governments will need to target typically excluded groups – including people on low incomes, women, and those in rural areas. This means funding public access and digital literacy initiatives to ensure everyone has the skills to use the internet in meaningful ways.
- Service providers must invest in network performance, reliability and coverage so that everyone is within reach of high-quality connectivity.
- And we can all play a role as individuals. If you’ve relied on the web recently, don’t you owe it to the other half of the world to help them get that lifeline, too? Demand action from your government to make universal internet connectivity a priority. Support a technology NGO such as the World Wide Web Foundation. Back the Contract for the Web — a collaborative project to build a better web, with universal connectivity as a key priority.
[Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the world wide web. He is co-founder of the World Wide Web Foundation and chief technology officer at Inrupt]
The COVID-19 pandemic has made something clear that the members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) have known for a long time: millions of families in the United States do not have access to affordable, reliable broadband internet connections. Technicians can’t install high-speed internet service for households without fiber optic cable in their neighborhoods. Teachers can’t keep children who cannot access online materials engaged and learning. Health care workers can’t provide telemedicine services to patients who lack broadband or can’t get a reliable cell phone connection. Any plan for reopening our society and keeping it functional as we navigate life in a post-COVID-19 world will require increased connectivity for students, working people and first responders alike. We are calling on Congress to support these workers, their families, and our communities by making affordable, universal access to high-speed broadband a priority in our response to this pandemic.
[Chris Shelton is president of Communications Workers of America, Randi Weingarten is president of the American Federation of Teachers and Mary Kay Henry is President of Service Employees International Union.]
For the last few months, some people who bought a new smartphone in Europe with Google’s Android software were presented with an extra option while setting up the device: choosing a search engine other than Google. This so-called choice menu started appearing on new smartphones and tablet computers running Google software after March, part of an effort by the internet giant to address a 2018 ruling from European authorities that the company had abused its dominance in smartphone software to unfairly give an advantage to its search engine. The move to provide users with an easy choice in search has now caught the attention of the Justice Department lawyers who are preparing to bring antitrust charges against the internet giant as early as this summer, according to an executive who has interacted with antitrust investigators. The choice menu is a potential approach that would not require the US government to pursue the most extreme — and legally challenging — path of trying to break up the company.
The explosive growth in wireless communications over the last many years has resulted in increasing interplay involving building codes, construction techniques and materials, and wireless communications coverage. In light of this, I believe that there is an opportunity for the Department of Energy and the Federal Comrntinications Commission to collaborate more extensively in order to produce thoughtful building codes that will not only allow the Department to fulfill its mission, but also expand wireless spectrum opportunities, and thus facilitate more consumer uses. Further, the FCC would benefit from the Department of Energy’s expertise regarding building materials when formulating our technical rules.
As though Americans don’t have enough to worry about right now, some people have recently been stoking fears about the supposedly harmful health effects of 5G — the new generation of wireless broadband networks. For decades, the Federal Communications Commission has ensured that equipment that transmits information over radio waves — from station antennas to cell towers to mobile phones to laptops — is safe for consumer use. The FCC most recently reviewed and reaffirmed those standards, which are among the most stringent in the world, in an order issued late in 2019.
Local governments are also second-guessing federal safety standards. Bad local decisions could be catastrophic for our country as we continue to face historic challenges relating to the coronavirus pandemic. High-speed, high-capacity wireless networks will be indispensable tools for our social and economic recovery. If we delay 5G deployment based on irrational fears and unproven theories, it will only hurt the American people as we plot our path forward.
[Thomas M. Johnson Jr. is general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission]
The massive, systemwide move to remote learning over the past few months created huge frustrations for educators. Those sentiments showed up in the results from surveys conducted by the EdWeek Research Center and in Education Week’s reporting. Teacher morale dropped, student engagement was down, and budget cutting plans were already starting. But, at the same time, by necessity, K-12 educators across the country upgraded their tech skills faster than ever before. What impact will those newfound technology and virtual teaching skills have on K-12 education when school buildings reopen? And could the increased use of technology heighten already big concerns about data privacy and students spending too much time in front of screens?
Social media companies are finally beginning to take action on posts from world leaders that violate their policies, after years of letting them mostly say whatever they wanted unfiltered to millions of people. Government officials are among the users most likely to abuse the wide reach and minimal regulation of tech platforms. Mounting pressure to stop harmful content from spreading amid the coronavirus pandemic, racial protests and a looming U.S. election has spurred some companies to finally do something about it. Tech companies often create carve-outs for world leaders in their content moderation policies, because they don't want to take down posts that could be of public interest. But those parameters have been tested as world leaders have used that freedom to suit their political needs.
The Senate confirmed Michael Pack, a conservative filmmaker who President Donald Trump has said he hopes will dictate more favorable news coverage of his administration, to lead the United States Agency for Global Media, the independent agency in charge of state-funded media outlets. The vote, 53 to 38, came after President Trump personally intervened to expedite Pack’s nomination, which had initially stalled amid concerns from senators in both parties and hit a snag more recently amid an investigation by the District of Columbia attorney general into whether he illegally funneled funds from his nonprofit group to his for-profit film company.
Senate Republicans, led by Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch (R-ID), pushed through Pack’s nomination over the objections of Democrats, who argued that the process should be paused given the investigation into Pack’s finances and outstanding questions about his ability to protect the agency’s editorial independence. Chairman Risch blasted the attorney general leading the investigation as “obviously a partisan individual.” “This has been investigated back and forth,” Mr. Risch said. “Keep in mind this is all politics. And if you see the kind of work that he’s done, he makes America proud when he makes a documentary.” Sen Bob Menendez (D-NJ), the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, argued that the Senate should pause its consideration Mr. Pack’s nomination until the inquiry was closed. “Please put aside whatever pressure, whatever threats the president has made and consider the dangerous precedent we are setting here today,” Sen Menendez said. “If Mr. Pack is confirmed, the new bar for advice and consent is now set below that of a nominee who is under open investigation by law enforcement.”
FCC Announces Additional Membership of Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee Disaster Response and Recovery Working Group
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has appointed members to serve on the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) Disaster Response and Recovery Working Group:
- Chris Anderson, CenturyLink Rick Carlisle, Pueblo of Pojoaque
- Mayor Michael Chauffe, Louisiana Municipal Association
- William Check, NCTA–The Internet and Television Association
- Todd Gourd, Cherokee Nation
- Jeremy Johnson, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
- Andrew Mincheff, INCOMPAS
- Francella Ochillo, Next Century Cities
- Denise Linn Riedl, City of South Bend
- Frank Ramirez, National American Indian Veterans
- Michael Romano, NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association
- Lisa Youngers, Fiber Broadband Association
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) and Robbie McBeath (rmcbeath AT benton DOT org) — we welcome your comments.
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