Inclusion is at the foundation of communications policy in this country. The Communications Act of 1934 and the Telecommunications Act of 1996 both rest on the notion that advanced communications networks should be universally available and affordable. The COVID-19 pandemic shows that there is still more to be done to adapt these policy principles to the internet age. In just two decades, having the internet at home has gone from being a toy for hobbyists to an indispensable tool for commerce, education, and connectedness. Yet many people – low-income and communities of color especially – remain without high-speed internet at home. A decade ago, the “cost of digital exclusion” began to be apparent. By the late 2000s, a growing number of employers were taking job applications exclusively online. For the one-third of Americans in 2010 without broadband at home, the right job was perhaps out of reach. Fast forward ten years, and what was once a costly inconvenience is now a debilitating deficiency. The COVID-19 pandemic has put digital exclusion into the spotlight.  Being without online connectivity limits or prevents access to education, health care, government services, and contact with loved ones. When the pandemic fades, concern about digital equity will not. High levels of unemployment and job displacement will make developing workforce skills a priority; job training resources are steadily moving online. The need for telehealth and online education may decline, but these modes of service delivery will persist. A sluggish economy will make it hard for some segments of the population to maintain home high-speed subscriptions. This puts the onus on stakeholders to think long-term in developing sustainable programs to meet connectivity challenges.

[John B. Horrigan is a frequent contributor to Benton's Digital Beat and a Senior Fellow at the Technology Policy Institute, with a focus on technology adoption, digital inclusion, and evaluating the outcomes and impacts of programs designed to promote communications technology adoption and use. Horrigan is also currently a consultant to the Urban Libraries Council.]

The Federal Communications Commission's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau seeks comment on emergency access to Wi-Fi access points as directed by Congress in the RAY BAUM’S Act of 2018. By March 23, 2021, Section 301 of RAY BAUM’S Act requires the FCC to submit to Congress and make publicly available on the FCC’s website, a study on the public safety benefits and technical feasibility and cost of

1. making telecommunications service provider-owned Wi-Fi access points, and other communications technologies operating on unlicensed spectrum, available to the general public for access to 9-1-1 services, without requiring any login credentials, during times of emergency when mobile service is unavailable;
2. the provision by non-telecommunications service provider-owned Wi-Fi access points of public access to 9-1-1 services during times of emergency when mobile service is unavailable; and
3. other alternative means of providing the public with access to 9-1-1 services during times of emergency when mobile service is unavailable.

The bureau invites commenters to identify and address the technical feasibility, cost, and public interest benefits of the following communications options during times of emergency when mobile service is unavailable: (1) making telecommunications service provider owned Wi-Fi access points, or other communications technologies operating on an unlicensed basis, available to the general public for open access to 911 services; (2) provisioning by non-telecommunications service provider-owned Wi-Fi access points; and (3) other alternative means of providing the public with access to 911 services, including over private Wi-Fi access points.

PS Docket No. 20-285

Comment Date: October 1, 2020; Reply Comment Date: October 16, 2020

The Open Technology Fund is requesting that the US Office of the Inspector General investigate its parent, the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), for breaching a firewall provision that is supposed to protect government-funded media agencies from political interference. In a letter to USAGM CEO Michael Pack and the Office of the Inspector General, Open Technology Fund interim CEO Laura Cunningham requests that Pack recuse himself from reviewing the OTF's funding and security matters in order to keep politics out of the process. The letter alleges that USAGM and Pack have attempted to undermine OTF's integrity, security, and effectiveness in ways that would prevent the group, which was established to help advance internet freedom abroad, from achieving its goals. The letter details five areas where it says the firewall — established as a part of the 1994 International Broadcasting Act — has been breached.

1. Attempts to compromise and undermine OTF’s independence by firing the group's CEO, Libby Liu, and the OTF's board. The firing of agency heads has driven a bipartisan outcry on Capitol Hill.
2. Attempts to compromise and undermine OTF's integrity by making false and misleading claims about OTF's security and its compliance as an organization that receives funding from the USAGM.
3. Attempts to compromise and undermine OTF's security by requesting sensitive information about its projects, including personal identifiable and confidential information about its project partners who operate in highly sensitive environments, while refusing to accept the information via secure channels, instead of email.
4. Attempts to compromise and undermine OTF's privacy by requesting information about OTF's contracted partners in a rushed manner, not giving the OTF enough time to comply with international laws about sharing data.
5. Attempts to compromise and undermine OTF's effectiveness by withholding funds while distracting the group with burdensome information requests.