The Federal Communications Commission seeks comment on the Petition for Temporary Waiver filed by NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association (NTCA). NTCA, on behalf of its members and similarly situated operators, requests a temporary waiver from the Bureau’s updated Lifeline minimum service standards, “applicable to fixed, wireline broadband Internet access service . . . eligible for support by the Lifeline Universal Service Fund . . . program,” which are scheduled to take effect on December 1, 2018. The minimum service standards for fixed broadband speeds are scheduled to increase to 18 Mbps downstream and 2 Mbps upstream, from 15 Mbps and 2 Mbps, respectively.

Comment Date: August 30, 2018; Reply Comment Date: September 14, 2018 [WC Docket Nos. 11-42, 09-197, 10-90]

The DC Circuit Court of Appeals has set briefing deadlines in the challenge to the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality repeal. Mozilla, state attorneys general and other groups fighting the FCC’s rollback will file their arguments Aug. 20. The Internet Association, Computer & Communications Industry Association and other organizations bolstering their case will file Aug. 27. The FCC has to respond Oct. 11, and the telecom associations backing the agency, including CTIA and USTelecom, will file their briefs Oct. 18. Final briefs in the case are due Nov. 27. The court has yet to schedule oral arguments or identify which judges will hear the case.

For years, national cable and telecom companies have complained that they work in a tough industry because “there’s too much broadband competition.” Such a subjective statement has created confusion among subscribers, policymakers, and elected officials. Many people, especially those in rural areas, have little or no choice. This is a look at the data and we map out what the large carriers offer and where they offer it. When it comes to ISPs, subscribers often have a faux choice between unequal services, such as one telephone company offering slow DSL and one cable company that offers faster cable Internet access. People in rural America often have even slimmer options because cable ISPs don’t provide broadband in less populated rural areas. In other words, the market has spoken and the market is broken.

A school district in South Carolina has done away with the much-loved snow days — requiring students to do classwork online. Officials with Anderson County School District 5 announced that the district has been chosen to “pilot the first eLearning program in the state of South Carolina,” meaning that when roads are too treacherous for travel, teachers will send assignments to the students’ school-supplied Chromebooks. The district calendar states that “inclement weather days will be eLearning days and will not be made up.”

Due to global climate change, South Carolina expects 12 feet of snow during the coming school year. 

The Trump administration likely will seek public comment on a new online privacy proposal it is hammering out with tech companies before sending it to Congress. The White House is working with technology giants on a legislative proposal through the National Economic Council and the Commerce Department. Commerce is likely to invite the public to weigh in on the plan before it goes to Capitol Hill. The administration started the talks in late June and has since held 22 meetings involving 80 organizations in a fluid process, according to Anne Veigle, a spokeswoman for the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration. “To help formulate privacy principles, NTIA is engaged in a broad outreach to all sectors of the economy, privacy, civil society and consumer groups as well as other impacted governmental organizations including Congress,” she said.