Livestream from Silicon Flatirons on ‘Internet Platforms’ Rising Dominance, Evolving Governance’
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Big Black Eye for Google as it Shuts Down its Fiber Access Network in Louisville, Kentucky
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: As Google says goodbye to the first of its fiber cities in which it has actually deployed connectivity, questions swirl about what happens to the network already in place. In its blog post, Google refers to “learn[ing]” by failing,” and links to an article about challenges of exposed fiber lines and a…
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Piece Outlines SiFi Networks’ Plan to Build Open Access Network in Saratoga Springs, New York
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: We reported this news back in August, but it’s worth highlighting again with this new new piece on SiFi Networks’ project in Saratoga Springs, a city of 28,027 in upstate New York. Most notably, the article includes a link to the agreement between SiFi Networks and the city. Saratoga Springs to lay fiber…
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California’s Privacy Legislation Will Force Changes in the Way Businesses Collect Personal Information in 2020
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: We’ve written about the California Consumer Privacy Act before in “European and Chinese Pressures are Squeezing Silicon Valley, Threatening a Global ‘Splinternet’. The fact of multiple states passing significant privacy legislation is one of the potential drivers for federal consideration of substantial privacy rules. Here, attorney Lauren Stickroth catalogs the various aspects…
How to Understand The Future of Privacy Policy: A Q&A With David Brin
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: We remember reading The Transparent Society 20 years ago, back in the days when Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy said, “You have no privacy; get over it.” Brin’s book was remarkably prescient in providing a pathway for how to live with the ever-decreasing private space occasioned by technological progress. Here, in an…
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Kelvin Droegemeier Confirmed as the Next Head of the Office of Science and Technology Policy
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: A Senate confirmation prior to the end of the 115th Congress at Noon on Thursday brought a new head to the Office of Science and Technology Policy. The position has been vacant for nearly two years. In a statement, CCIA CEO Ed Black said, “This is a vitally important link to the administration…
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FCC Releases Tentative Agenda for January 30 Agency Meeting
Editor’s Note: The Federal Communications Commission released the following press release, entitled “FCC Announces Tentative Agenda for January Open Meeting”: WASHINGTON, January 3, 2019—Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the items below are tentatively on the agenda for the January Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Wednesday, January 30, 2019. Should the current lapse…
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Federal Communications Commission Plans Shutdown Beginning Thursday, January 3
Editor’s Note: The Federal Communications Commission issued this press release on Monday – it looks as though the agency will close down right as Congress is coming back into session. WASHINGTON, December 31, 2018—In the event of a continued partial lapse in federal government funding, the Federal Communications Commission will suspend most operations in the…
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Metro Finally Extends Wireless Coverage to a Portion of Washington Underground
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: It’s about time that Metro began covering the Washington subway! Metro, AT&T, Sprint, T‐Mobile and Verizon Wireless announce major milestone in tunnel wireless coverage, from WMATA: December 19, 2018 – Today Metro and the nation’s leading wireless carriers, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless announced that more than half of Metro’s tunnels…
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D.C. Circuit Court Questioning Suggests an Uphill Battle for the Justice Department to Defeat AT&T Acquisition
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: The first news report that we’ve seen on Thursday’s argument before the D.C. Circuit. While the Trump Justice Department attempted to stop the merger between AT&T and Time Warner, the deal has already closed after it was blessed by district court judge Richard Leon. This report emphasizes the tone and mood in the closely-watched case.…
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In a First, Social Media Giant Facebook Agrees to French Regulators Seeking to Combat Hate Speech
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Facebook is only the first of the feared tech giants (#GAFA – Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon) who appear to be buckling into this pressure. Can you imagine the reaction if the Trump administration were seeking to “embed” journalists into the company? Tech companies are increasingly being hit by both sides: Conservative…
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Why Cable Companies May Soon Begin to Bet on Fixed Wireless Technology
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: A lot of jargon in here, but the key message is that there are some real advantages for fixed wireless technology (“FWA,” in the jargon of the piece) as opposed to networks built primarily for mobile uses. Cable companies can use fixed wireless to deliver broadband services to residential markets already served…
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The Supreme Court Finally Says It Won’t Reconsider Old Net Neutrality Case
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Talk about finally letting the other shoe drop! On Monday, the Supreme Court, on a 4-3 vote (with two of the conservatives justices recusing themselves) refused to consider the old net neutrality case – the one lodged by the Obama administration, and which put extensive net neutrality regulations into effect. Those rules,…
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Phoenix Center Releases Results of Study Documenting Lower Broadband Investment from 2015
US Telecom recently released an update to its U.S. broadband industry capital spending series. Ford’s analysis shows that while the decline in capital spending in 2015 and 2016 stopped in 2017, investment in the telecommunications sector is materially compressed, being about $10-to-$13 billion (or 12-to-15%) below expectations in 2017 with nearly $24-to-$30 billion in investment lost to the Title II drama since 2015.
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Regional Broadband Conference in Connecticut on Thursday, November 8
NEW BRITAIN, Conn., November 2, 2018 – Consumer Counsel Elin Swanson Katz is pleased to announce a broadband conference entitled, Connected New England: A Regional Broadband Convening at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Connecticut, (300 Capitol Ave.), Room 2C, on November 8, 2018, from 9:00 am – 4:30 p.m.
Registration is required, but the event is free for government, academic, and non-profit employees to attend, while the registration fee for others will be $150. Press are invited to attend. The event is being co-hosted by Next Century Cities, a non-profit coalition of innovative municipalities that recognize the importance of leveraging gigabit level internet to attract new businesses and create jobs, improve health care and education, ensure civic participation, and connect residents to new opportunities.
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Commissioner O’Rielly Raises Another Concern about Municipal Broadband: The ‘First Amendment’
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Critics of municipal involvement with broadband infrastructure will find all manner of reasons to oppose them, and this article from Motherboard elaborates on Federal Communications Commissioner Mike O’Rielly’s views about the subject. This appears to be an extension of the thinking that, just as cable networks enjoyed a First Amendment right to…
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Columbia Journalism Review Weighs in, from Iowa, About the Increasing Digital Divide
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: The journalism publication CJR weighs into the below-the-radar-battle over rural broadband, highlighting the now-here prospect of a gaping digital divide between the urban and the rural areas of our country. Iowa: Rural broadband, and the unknown costs of the digital divide, from CJR.org Ahead of the November 6 elections, CJR invited writers…
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On Broadband, California Again Leads the Way in Helping Promote Rural Broadband
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: There’s no question that California courts controversy, in technology and telecommunications as well as many other spaces. However, putting aside the drama over net neutrality, this bill removing restrictions on the public option will aid rural broadband. In particular, the measure allows community service districts to fund broadband much as they would…
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Seattle Loses Very Little Sleep in Suing the FCC Over the Agency’s 5G Rollout Rules
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Seattle steps up to the plate as the first city to take on the Federal Communications Commission in the emerging battles over the rollout of so-called 5G, or fifth generation, wireless networks. 5G networks require an exponential expansion on transceivers, and many cities are frustrated by the sense that the FCC is…
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In a Sunday Filing, Justice Department Takes Aim at California Net Neutrality Bill
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: California is merely the largest of the large number of states that have attempted to take a “federalist” approach to the “interstate commerce” of network neutrality. This sets up the first of many political flashpoints over the issue. Feds launch lawyers at California net neutrality law, on high political alert, from Steve…
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How the Utah Open Access Fiber Network Is Getting Back its Groove
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: The Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency has been outperforming expectations for some time; and never more so than recently. This post from FreeUTOPIA summarizes some of the reasons. In September, the entity signed a deal with Layton to allow the city to accelerate its build of the fiber-optic network. Expanding UTOPIA the…
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Discussion on Rural Broadband in Maine on Wednesday, September 12
ROCKPORT, Maine, September 3, 2018 – The Maine State Chamber of Commerce teams up with the Telecommunications Association of Maine to host a roundtable discussion on how to overcome difficulties in funding rural broadband. Featured guests include Dana Connors, president of the Maine Chamber of Commerce (discussing the recent report, “Making Maine Work”), Heather Johnson,…
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News Report on Google Fiber Cites a Lack of Progress in Salt Lake in Provo
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT – Views differ on the extent of Google Fiber progress, or persistence, throughout the country, and particularly here in Utah. I have cousins in both Provo and Salt Lake, each of whom have Google Fiber, each of whom love Google Fiber. And yet reports such as this one highlight the key need…
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A New Public-Private Model for Gigigabit Broadband Gains Ground in Saratoga Springs, New York
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: SiFi Networks appears to be gaining some traction in the U.S., based upon this report from Telecompaper. The company bring a public-private partnership model to a universal broadband build within cities, helping cities to get gigabit symmetrical service — and to have control and/or ownership at the end of a period of…
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Broadband Deployment Updates from Virginia, Kansas, Ohio and Indiana
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: It is great to see this kind of round-up of an array of broadband activities happening throughout the country. It is a reminder that broadband remains a potent economic development issue throughout the country, if not in Washington. Kudos to Smart and Resilient Cities for putting this piece together! Broadband Expansion Gains…
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Are Facebook and Amazon Really Compliant with the Global Data Protection Regulation?
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Are Facebook and Amazon really GDPR compliant? Researchers used artificial intellence software to analyze Facebook and Amazon new GDPR policies. The AI tool found one-third of policy clauses to be “potentially problematic” or containing “insufficient information”, which could put the companies’ in violation of GDPR. Meanwhile, Google and Facebook asserted they are working…
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Far From Discriminating Against Conservatives, Facebook is Accused of a Pro-Conservative Bias
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Against a backdrop of complaints by American conservatives that Facebook and other social media giants promote non-conservative content, a new report finds that the opposite is occurring. Facebook accused of protecting far-right activists that broke site rules A documentary says some pages are kept safe from deletion by “shielded review,” from CNET: Facebook allegedly…
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Republicans Talk Rural Broadband, But Oppose Measure Democrats Say Would Help
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Leading Republican leaders are content to talk up the significance of aiding rural regions by enhancing broadband deployment. But, at least according to this article from The Hill, are actively opposing measures, such as the Community Broadband Act, that Democrats say would help advance better broadband. Instead, Republicans favor legislation including H.R.…
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Blockchain Brings Distributed Computing to Automating More Than Simply Bitcoin
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Blockchain is beginning to be recognized as much more than simply the technology powering Bitcoin. As this understanding seeps into the popular consciousness, policy-makers will begin to recognize how significant this innovation is for distributed computing and automating processes – financial, transactional, logistical and legal. Shane Tews at AEI Ideas delves into…
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Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum, What is This Project Fi That Google’s Done?
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Last week Google announced three new phones on its Project Fi network. Which raises the question (particularly for those iPhone users blocked out of the project) about what on earth is Project Fi, and how does it work? In sum, it’s Google’s version of a virtual mobile network stitching together elements of…
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Geoffrey Starks Will Likely Fill Shoes of Mignon Clyburn at FCC
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: The traditional pairing of one Republican and one Democrat for Federal Communications Commission spots may not apply in this case because, with the departure of Mignon Clyburn on May 10, the agency is currently experiences a 3-1 margin of Republican governance. Trump grants Democrats’ request for a new FCC commissioner, from Ars…
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Broadband Technology is Powering a New Generation of TV Startups, Including Jeffrey Katzenberg’s
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: With Jeffrey Katzenberg getting into the game, we now see a multitude of video entities and many over-the-top outfits promoting an array of content offerings. Katzenberg’s take? Short-form TV. Let a thousand flowers bloom! Katzenberg’s NewTV Video Startup Raises $800 Million, from Bloomberg Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg has secured about $800 million…
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FCC Press Release: Wireline Competition Bureau Releases Illustrative Model Results to Aid Preparation of Comments in Response to 2018 Rate-of-Return Reform
SOURCE: The Federal Communications Commission WC Docket No. 10-90 The Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) announces the availability of illustrative model results intended to aid parties that are preparing comments in response to the 2018 Rate-of-Return Reform NPRM.1 In that NPRM, the Commission sought comment on, among other matters, whether to provide a new model offer based…
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The Moral Complexities of Artificial Intelligence Raised by Google Assistant
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: I watched this video of Google CEO Sundar Pichai demonstrating Google Assistant, and I also was impressed. While I agree that there are some real social engineering issues raised by the assistant, I’m not sure that “disclosure” requirement called for by some of the technology’s critics really meet the mark. Is there…
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Blair Levin’s Scathing Takedown of FCC’s Ajit Pai, Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee, and 5G Hype
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: We were present at the Broadband Communities Summit at which Blair Levin gave these remarks; thanks to the Coalition for Local Internet Choice for providing the complete and unvarnished record of this important and scathing speech. Remember that Levin was the former executive director of the FCC’s ambitious National Broadband Plan, issued…
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Senate Democrats Join With Collins To Force Vote On Restoring Obama Net Neutrality Rules
WASHINGTON, May 9, 2018 — Senate Democrats on Wednesday announced plans to invoke a rarely-used Senate procedure to force a floor vote on a bill to roll back the Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of Obama-era regulations preventing internet providers from blocking or throttling internet traffic. “Today we are officially filing the discharge petition to force…
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How Delaware is Promoting Better Broadband State-wide, Including in Rural Areas
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: This great piece from a news site devoted to state, county and municipal government tackles what one state is doing in order to advance better broadband throughout its state. All states include a rural component (more or less), and Delaware shows that state-wide broadband planning can help to put broadband deployment on…
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As Johnson Takes Oath At RUS, Purdue Remains ‘Hopeful’ On Infrastructure Plan Prospects
WASHINGTON, April 30, 2018 — Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Monday said he is “always hopeful” that progress will be made on President Trump’s $1.5 billion infrastructure plan, even as Congress shifts its focus to the upcoming primary election season. “I’m always hopeful,” he said when asked about the plan’s prospects shortly after a swearing-in…
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Why 5G Wireless Deployments Are Not an In-Home Solution for Better Broadband
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: This falls into the category of a gaffe, or when a politically-minded business like AT&T accidentally tells the truth. Here, the truth is that 5G is not, current hype notwithstanding, a fiber-to-the-home killer. Instead, 5G will rely more directly on fiber build deeper into neighborhoods. And, as AT&T said, fiber-to-the-home would be…
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How the Trump Administration’s Trade Politics are Slipping into the Fiber Broadband World
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: The Trump administration’s protectionism is already having significant impacts on many American businesses and industries, and may begin to have significant impacts on the fiber broadband world. This post by Doug Dawson outlines some of the moves in Washington against both Huawei and ZTE, two Chinese telecommunications manufacturing giants. Incidentally, I had…
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