Boston Globe

Significant portions of city neighborhoods in Massachusetts lack internet access

Massachusetts state officials have spent years expanding broadband access in rural communities. Now, their focus needs to turn to urban neighborhoods. That’s the major takeaway from a new report funded by the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership and researched in collaboration with local think tank MassINC.

To close digital equity gaps, US should endow a private Digital Futures Foundation

A high-stakes auction of government-owned airwaves to mobile broadband providers is set to drop a record windfall exceeding $80 billion into the US Treasury. Two additional auctions of wireless frequency bands, called spectrum, are on tap for 2021 and slated to follow the same course. The nation has become painfully aware of the digital divides that are widening inequality, slowing productivity, and impeding innovation.

Make broadband far more affordable

We urge Congress to establish a broadband credit — call it America’s Broadband Credit — to ensure many more people can afford high-speed Internet access. Congress could set a household subsidy of $50 per month, which is roughly the cost of medium-tier broadband plans in urban settings (and it could provide a higher subsidy for tribal lands). That subsidy would allow anyone and any device in the household to be connected to the Internet, simultaneously, which is how so many families today are operating.

A new chance to close the digital divide

The “digital divide” in the accessibility of telecommunications services remains far too wide — and that current needs give urgency to closing it. A lack of sufficient Internet access is very likely keeping 12 million students from doing distance learning while their schools are closed.And the more that low-income communities are dependent on temporary grace from telecom providers, the more they have to lose when this is all over. New ideas are clearly required.

Trump’s tweets include grammatical errors. And some are on purpose

The hallmark of President Trump’s Twitter feed is that it sounds like him — grammatical miscues and all. But it’s not always Trump tapping out a Tweet, even when it sounds like his voice. Apparently, West Wing employees who draft proposed tweets intentionally employ suspect grammar and staccato syntax in order to mimic the president’s style. They overuse the exclamation point! They Capitalize random words for emphasis. Fragments. Loosely connected ideas.

In rural America, digital divide slows a vital path for telemedicine

[Commentary] Telemedicine — the delivery of health care services using communications technology — can be a critical tool for making Americans healthier. A concerted push to seize the untapped potential of telemedicine could help us tackle today’s health challenges. The most crucial step in seizing the opportunities of digital medicine is making sure that every community has high-speed Internet access.

FCC commissioner weighs in on net neutrality

Of all the issues before the Federal Communications Commission, none has triggered such tremendous public response as the agency’s proposal on so-called network neutrality, in which Internet providers would be required to treat all online traffic alike.

One of three Democrats on the five-member commission, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel broadly supports prohibiting providers from favoring one form of Internet traffic over another.

“If you want to be able to go and do something on a legal website, your broadband provider shouldn’t impede your ability to do so,” Commissioner Rosenworcel said.

But how much federal regulation would be needed to meet this goal? Many net neutrality advocates want to see the Internet regulated as a public utility, as the phone companies once were. Commissioner Rosenworcel seemed reluctant to go that far. While there’s plenty of online innovation, she said, there isn’t as much competition among Internet providers.