Government & Communications

For decades, privacy experts have been wary of snooping from space. Now, quite suddenly, a startup is building a new class of satellite whose cameras would do just that. “We’re acutely aware of the privacy implications,” said Topher Haddad, head of Albedo Space, the company making the new satellites. He claims the company is taking administrative steps to address a wide range of privacy concerns. Anyo

Through the implementation of two Executive Orders on equity and President Joe Biden's Investing in America Agenda, the Biden-Harris Administration is working to advance opportunity and make real the promise of America for everyone.  In the rural South and dense 

The White House Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) has scored four forms that will be part of the Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program. The four forms are: Application, Consolidated Budget, Digital Equity Plan Amendments, and Specific Projects. OIRA has calculated how many hours it will take to complete each form.

Americans made more than 280,000 calls, emails, and social media posts to Congress in support of funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). The program needs $7 billion in funding from Congress to ensure people aren’t disconnected from the internet in 2024. Don’t Disconnect US Day, which took place on January 25, spurred those who care about affordable internet to contact their congressional representatives. The resulting actions from supporters calling for Congress to fund the program included:

The Mississippi Office of Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi (BEAM) released its draft State Digital Skills and Accessibility (DSA) Plan for a 30-day public comment period on January 5, 2024. The Mississippi DSA Plan outlines how BEAM will work towards ensuring broadband accessibility, affordability, digital skills training, and digital opportunities for all citizens.

Precision agriculture involves collecting, analyzing, and taking actions based on data.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is exploring internal use of artificial intelligence (AI) to make its work for Congress and taxpayers more efficient, in-depth, and effective. By developing these tools, GAO is also gaining insight into the benefits and risks of AI, which will help GAO evaluate other agencies' use and better provide technical assistance to Congress. As of January 2024, GAO is exploring the following eight AI use cases:

The National Security Agency buys certain logs related to Americans’ domestic internet activities from commercial data brokers, according to an unclassified letter by the agency. The letter offered few details about the nature of the data other than to stress that it did not include the content of internet communications.

Three of the most important technology trends in the election space that you should stay on top of. 

The State of New Mexico recognizes the transformative power of technology in fostering an inclusive and prosperous society for all of New Mexico’s diverse and unique communities and across New Mexico’s rich tapestry of cultures and languages as well as its diverse geographies. With this in mind, the New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE) released its draft State Digital Equity Plan for public comment in late 2023.