Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) launched a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on the E-Rate program, asking if E-Rate is still necessary and how the program should change. This proceeding could drastically impact the work of the schools and libraries that rely on E-Rate funding. Every state has E-Rate coordinators that help schools and libraries navigate the federal program.

Our goal at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is universal, meaningful connectivity. Under our logo, we say that broadband builds opportunities and strengthens communities. But we haven’t been living under a rock. We know technology does not always build opportunity or strengthen communities. And right now, a real bleakness surrounds technology and what it is doing to us—or might do to us. If you work in digital inclusion, that can give you pause. What exactly are we working to include people in?

On September 29, 2026, President Donald Trump took three significant steps shaping how the federal government will use, refer to, and oversee artificial intelligence (AI)—including a voluntary accord with six of the country's largest AI companies that signals the Administration's preference for industry self-governance over federal regulation. The three actions were:

In the Beckett play Happy Days, the main character, Winnie, begins the play buried to her waist in a mound of dirt. A bell rings. She wakes up. And she announces: “Another heavenly day.” She carries on. She goes through her routines. She talks incessantly. She is adapting to her circumstances. When the second act begins, the mound has risen to her neck.

You’d be hard-pressed to find many people who don’t intuitively consider the internet essential infrastructure, and their broadband service an essential utility. The last time Congress comprehensively addressed how we should govern the communications landscape was the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Thirty years ago, we went on the internet.

What should the social contract be between the communications sector, the government, and the public in the next two decades? Its terms should reflect that the purpose of communications policy is to ensure that all Americans can fully participate in the economy and civic life of their communities. In 1996, there was a bipartisan consensus that policy should drive competition that, in turn, would drive the communications sector to continually deliver faster, better and cheaper communications for all.

On September 15, the Gates Foundation released the 2026 Goalkeepers Report, Make This Matter: AI, Equity, and the Choice We Can't Delay. Goalkeepers tracks progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are 17 goals adopted by 193 world leaders in 2015.

We are facing the multi-trillion-dollar march of private artificial intelligence (AI) data centers into our economy, politics, ecosystem, and cultural life. Amid calls for blanket moratoria and investments in data centers in space, how can the public assert a controlling interest in the development and outcomes of this technology? This essay proposes developing municipally owned, small-scale data center capacity to support municipal services and public-interest AI.

In what has been described as social media’s “Big Tobacco moment,” Meta announced a settlement with 47 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico over claims that the company endangered children with intentionally addictive social media platforms.

Today, public universities, public libraries, public hospitals, national research laboratories, public schools, and local governments fulfill public obligations to manage critical data resources using digital infrastructure they do not own and, in many cases, cannot build or maintain themselves. Governments allocate resources to these institutions so they can provide services we consider essential, and for many, this government support drives specific obligations to their publics.