Infrastructure
Open Access Networks Key To Affordability Question, House Committee Hears
The House Energy and Commerce committee heard arguments that open access to networks is crucial for competition and affordability.
FCBA
Consumer Privacy Must Rise To Priority In Biden Agenda, Experts Urge
FCBA panelists discuss data privacy and consumer protection challenges for the Biden administration.
Benton
Public Knowledge Celebrates 20 Years of Helping Congress Get a Clue on Digital Rights
February 27, 2021 – The non-profit advocacy group Public Knowledge celebrated its twentieth anniversary year in a Monday event revolving around the issues that the group has made its hallmark: Copyright, open standards and other digital rights issues. Group Founder Gigi Sohn, now a Benton Institute
Privacy
Silicon Flatiron Panelists Differ in Attitudes on Trustworthiness of Big Tech Companies
February 14, 2021 – A public policy manager for Google defended the search engine giant’s trustworthiness and status during a Thursday panel discussion, even as she reiterated that the company supports a federal privacy law. Speaking at a discussion hosted by Silicon Flatirons, Sarah Holland of Goog
Biden-Harris Administration
Slaughter Named FTC Chair, Combatting Disinformation with Community Media, Kimmelman Departs Public Knowledge
January 22, 2021—President Joe Biden designated Rebecca Slaughter as acting chair of the Federal Trade Commission on Thursday. Slaughter has served as an FTC Commissioner since May 2018. As a commissioner, Slaughter championed aggressive use of the FTC’s authorities to combat the abuse of consumers’
Broadband Live
Broadband Breakfast Live Online on Wednesday, January 6: Broadband and the Biden Administration, Part 3
Our Broadband Breakfast Live Online events take place every Wednesday at 12 Noon ET. You can watch the January 6, 2021, event on this page. You can also PARTICIPATE in the current Broadband Breakfast Live Online event. REGISTER HERE. Also read “Building Better Broadband Underscores Joe Biden’s Top P
Antitrust
Is House Judiciary Report a Fix for Big Tech, or a One-Sided Political Document?
October 17, 2020 – Responding to the landmark report of the House Judiciary Antitrust Committee on October 6 about how to deal with big tech companies, two panels addressing the report on October 9 reprised significantly different perspectives. At an event hosted by Public Knowledge that featured th
FCC
South Florida Fiber-Optic Network, Rural Broadband in New York, Copyright Office’s Sesquicentennial, Internet Honorees
As part of an effort in Longboat Key, Florida to move electrical infrastructure underground, the town is also building a city-wide fiber-optic network, which holds the potential to foster 100 percent internet connectivity within the town, GovTech reported. The project was born out of an ongoing conc
Amazon
Broadband Roundup: IBM Pulls Facial Recognition, Public Knowledge Says No to Facebook, Comcast Pledges to Diversity
June 10, 2020 — IBM CEO Arvind Krishna announced Monday that the company would end its facial recognition development programs, CNBC reported. Amid nationwide protests surrounding police brutality and the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, some tech privacy advocates say the police can us
DC
Public Knowledge’s Internet Superfund is a Vaccine Against Toxic Misinformation and Conspiracy Theories Run Rampant
June 4, 2020 — In a video that quickly went viral, discredited medical researcher Judy Mikovits claimed that the novel coronavirus was intentionally unleashed upon the world by Bill Gates’ elite cabal and that wearing masks can worsen COVID-19 symptoms, among other conspiracies. Facebook, YouTube an
FTC
Trump Preparing to Sign Executive Order Curbing Section 230 Protections for Social Media
May 28, 2020 — President Donald Trump is preparing to sign an executive order that would eliminate protections under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act for big technology platform companies, or at least refocus how Section 230 is applied, according to a report from The New York Times Thur
China
At Silicon Flatirons on Monday, Panelists Differ on the Real Value of the Internet
Panelists at the Silicon Flatirons conference on Monday clashed over the extent to which the internet deserves the veneration that it currently enjoys in society. The theme of the conference, at the University of Colorado Law School, was “Technology Optimism and Pessimism.” The panelists agreed that
FCC
Tech Groups Push Back on Trump Social Media Bias, Microsoft Calls Rural Broadband ‘Urgent National Crisis,” Huawei Operating System
Public Knowledge, the Computer & Communications Industry Association and TechFreedom on Friday pushed back at the Trump Administration’ reported Executive Order that would appear to require the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission to monitor speech on social platforms. Fol
Justice Department
Is the Consumer Welfare Standard Sufficient to the Big Tech Antitrust Challenge?
WASHINGTON, July 25, 2019 — The efficacy of antitrust enforcement against big tech companies was energetically debated at an Internet Governance Forum conference on Thursday. The current consumer welfare standard sufficiently supports robust antitrust merger analysis, claimed Keith Klovers, an attor
House Agriculture
FCC Spends $524 Million for Rural Area as House Subcommittee Highlights Problem, New Public Knowledge CEO
The Federal Communications Commission on Monday announced more than $524 million in funding over the next decade to expand broadband access to 205,520 unserved rural homes and businesses in 23 states. Providers will begin receiving funding this month. “High-speed Internet provides access to opportun
FCC
Nipping at Heels of FCC’s Net Neutrality Proceeding, Legislators Introduce Bill Barring ‘Paid Prioritization’
WASHINGTON, June 17, 2014 – Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., on Tuesday introduced a bill, the Online Competition and Consumer Choice Act, that would grant the Federal Communications Commission the authority to bar so-called “paid prioritization” agreements between interne
