Government

Four months after the end of a subsidy program for home broadband, individual states are figuring out if and how they can expand access. Meanwhile the debate over the value and impact of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) continues to rage. ... The program launched in 2021 as part of a wider infrastructure package. It was available to households earning up to double the federal poverty level or with somebody in a government assistance program. Under the program, households would get a government-funded discount of up to $30 a month on broadband services and a one-off discount of $100 for a ... (view more)

Two proposed laws to boost online privacy and security for children have received widespread backing in the Senate. Whether the measures will make it into law remains unclear. The laws are the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and ... Teen's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0). They've now been combined into a single package for administrative and voting purposes. 86 Senators agreed the laws should be considered by the Senate while just one voted against. That means they will go to a final approval vote after further discussion. (Source: ctmirror.org ) Greater Parental Controls ... (view more)

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has banned Internet carriers from giving some applications access to "fast lane" speeds. The tweak to recently-restored net neutrality rules aims to close a potential loophole. Last month, the FCC voted to ... restore the principle of net neutrality. Broadly they say Internet carriers must treat all traffic equally. The commission has now published the full wording of the rules which will enforce the principle. One of the most notable elements of net neutrality is speed. Previously used rules explicitly barred carriers from slowing down access when ... (view more)

The FCC has restored net neutrality rules, theoretically making it harder for broadband providers to favor traffic speed on some sites or services over others. But the introduction of 5G technology could be a glitch in the plan. Net neutrality is a ... longstanding topic of debate for the FCC with policy largely following partisan politics. Rules were last introduced in 2015 and then repealed in 2017. (Source: theverge.com ) The general principle of net neutrality is that all Internet traffic (except for inherently illegal content) should be treated equally by carriers. That means, for example, ... (view more)

A program to make broadband cheaper for low income households will soon expire. The Affordable Connectivity Program provokes political debate on both the importance of technology and the role of government. The program launched in 2021 with a $14 ... billion funding commitment from the federal government. It was available for households based on their income or them also being eligible for programs such as Medicaid or nutritional aid. Eligible households received a $30 discount on their broadband bill. Some providers created basic packages priced at $30, meaning the households did not pay any ... (view more)

A satellite Internet company has slammed the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for refusing to subsidize its expansion. Starlink wanted the public money that is normally given to wired Internet companies to reach rural areas. The FCC said ... Starlink hadn't done enough to prove it could live up to its promises and said the technology wasn't developed enough. The argument is about how the FCC allocates a $9.2 billion fund that's designed to subsidize companies to build or extend broadband access in places where it wouldn't be profitable to do so otherwise. Starlink had bid in an auction to ... (view more)

US regulators want new rules on when companies - particularly tech firms - can merge. They say existing rules aren't designed to cover businesses that offer free services to consumers. Traditionally one of the key questions in approving or blocking ... mergers is whether it reduces competition to the point that consumers no longer benefit from price competition. The rules have only been updated once since 1984. Regulators say even that review in 2010 is now outdated as the tech world has changed so much. In particular, they point to the way many tech giants offer free services to the public and ... (view more)

US President Joe Biden has ordered the federal government to modernize its online services. It aims to remove a "time tax" on citizens navigating inefficient services. It comes in an executive order, which doesn't require legislation passed by ... Congress. The order says the US government is responsible for "designing and delivering services with a focus on the actual experience of the people whom it is meant to serve." (Source: whitehouse.gov ) The main requirement of the order is to overcome the current problem of limited interoperability between different government sites, which often require ... (view more)

The US government has blacklisted an Israeli company that made spyware used by national governments. NSO Group's tools have reportedly been used against diplomats, journalists and political activists. The move is as much a political signal as a ... practical measure. NSO being added to the group means US businesses must apply for a license to supply it, which will likely be refused. This would primarily affect cyber researchers who sell it information about known vulnerabilities. Although there's no immediate ban on US organizations using NSO's services, it's now clearly frowned upon. Threat To ... (view more)

At least 175 countries have some form of online censorship according to a newly-published study. The degree varies wildly, however, and is somewhat dependent on definitions. The report comes from Comparitech, which ranked the 175 countries for ... "censorship" in six categories of Internet use: file sharing torrents, pornography, political media, social media, virtual private networks and apps for messaging or voice over Internet protocol (such as Skype). For each category it gave the country one point if it had some form of legal restriction and two points for an outright ban. That ... (view more)