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Misunderstanding of the digital divide's scope hinders broadband funding efforts

Our broadband system needs help. Americans have vastly different abilities to get online or to connect at decent speeds, depending on where they live. The problem is acute in rural areas but also in cities where certain neighborhoods, often those populated by communities of color, can have far worse connections than people living just a few miles away.

Biden’s infrastructure plan could push more cities to offer internet service directly

Under the surface of Washington’s negotiations over infrastructure – and buried in jargon like "municipal networks" and "overbuilding" – is a debate about how Americans may get their internet in the years ahead. Will your broadband bill come from a purely private company or will it be more like a public utility? The Biden administration wants to at least nudge the country toward the latter. The effort is being led by Vice President Kamala Harris and one aspect of the administration's plan would encourage government-owned broadband networks.

Why Americans don't have to worry about Netflix slowing down: FCC Commissioner Carr explains

With everyone at home using so much broadband during coronavirus shutdowns, are our networks at risk of being overwhelmed? The short answer is no, according to Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr. Regarding the reduction in streaming quality in Europe by major entertainment companies, Commissioner Carr said, “We don't see any issues like that at all in the U.S. network,” he said. “We've pushed more high capacity spectrum out to wireless providers. And they can turn that out immediately.

'As essential as roads': How North Dakota became a broadband leader

North Dakota has fostered a tech sector thanks in part to being one of the most connected states in the country — a giant feat considering it’s also one of the most rural. “We realized that for us to be competitive, we had to have that connectivity,” says Doug Burgum, who was president of Great Plains Software when it was bought by Microsoft and is now governor of the state. 

Land O’Lakes CEO: Rural America is the new inner city

While the urban world is talking about the power and promise of 5G, much of rural America is still having trouble getting online. While the Federal Communications has launched the Rural Digital Opportunites Fund,  Land O’Lakes Chief Executive Beth Ford said, “It’s not that that’s nothing. I mean, that’s real money. But it’s inadequate. And then I meet constantly with governors, and they’re putting something -- 10 million in the budget or 20 million... And it feels like we’re in the couch looking for the quarters and nickels. And that’s not going to get us there.

Russian intel started the Seth Rich rumor to cover for DNC hack

The purported details in the account of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, known as the SVR, seemed improbable on their face: that Seth Rich, a data director in the Democratic National Committee’s voter protection division, was on his way to alert the FBI to corrupt dealings by Hillary Clinton when he was slain in the early hours of a Sunday morning by the former secretary of state’s hit squad.

Why it's so hard for some Americans to get high-speed internet

The Federal Communications Commission's broadband map, which invites you to plug in street addresses to see which companies sell service there and at what speeds, is a failure. It’s built on old and fuzzy data filed by internet providers that sometimes don’t even know where they offer service. And this stunted cartography of connectivity doesn’t just sandbag house hunters researching their biggest expense; it also holds back government efforts to cover broadband gaps -- for instance, the 5G-broadband agenda the Trump administration outlined April 12 that FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said will incl

President Trump is going after the Bill of Rights

[Commentary] Democrats -- and much of the “liberal” media Trump frequently attacks -- continue to obsess over clumsy Russian efforts to interfere with our elections as the challenge of our times to American democracy. But they could pay more attention to this ongoing assault on two of our most precious rights, enshrined in the Constitution and fundamental to the functioning of any free Republic: the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of expression and the Fifth Amendment’s protections against government taking of private property without due process of law.

Net neutrality is on death row — Why we should let it die

[Commentary] In 2015 the Federal Communications Commission under then-President Obama launched Network Neutrality putting broadband under the same Title II regulatory framework as telephone companies a century earlier. In an open letter that year President Obama wrote; “Today’s FCC decision will protect innovation and create a level playing field for the next generation of entrepreneurs…” The word innovation doesn’t often come to mind when you’re talking about a regulated utility which is just what the government wanted to achieve with the FCC decision.