Government & Communications

Governor Josh Shapiro (D-PA) and Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority (PBDA) Executive Director Brandon Carson highlighted the Shapiro Administration’s plans to expand broadband access across the Commonwealth using more than $1.16 billion in funding through the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program and outlined plans to ensure every Pennsylvanian can access the internet. The Commonwealth will receive $1.16 billion to expand broadband infrastructure to communities that currently lack reliable, affordable, high-speed internet access.

American Association for Public Broadband Executive Director Gigi Sohn’s hope is that the incumbents that oppose community broadband will come to realize that there are better business opportunities for them to support the concept rather than fight it. For instance, they could have bid on the project in Bountiful City (UT), rather than use shadowy tactics to try and kill it. For decades, these incumbents have argued that taxpayer dollars should not be used to compete against their private investments. In response to that, Sohn said, “I’m sorry to laugh.

President Joe Biden (D) announced a milestone in the Internet for All funding from our $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment—or BEAD—program. Florida will receive over $1.1 billion to bring high-speed Internet service to every home and business within its borders. However, it is not enough to simply deploy Internet infrastructure. A connection to a family’s home doesn’t help if that family can’t afford Internet service.

Congress is dysfunctional. The courts are a bad and dangerous joke. Independent government agencies are on the cusp of being dismantled. The Administration’s agenda is largely blocked. Companies large and small have pillaged the economy and jacked up prices that impose real pain on American consumers, long after economic circumstances can justify it. The media, which have a solemn obligation to give us real news and information, choose instead to blanket us with infotainment and trifle that divert our attention from the real problems that are undermining our democracy.

The European Commission adopted its adequacy decision for the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. The decision concludes that the US ensures an adequate level of protection – comparable to that of the EU– for personal data transferred from the EU to US companies under the new framework.

Attention-grabbing warnings of artificial intelligence's existential threats have eclipsed what many experts and researchers say is a much more imminent risk: A near-certain rise in misinformation. The struggle to separate fact from fiction online didn't start with the rise of generative AI — but the red-hot new technology promises to make misinformation more abundant and more compelling. By some estimates, AI-generated content 

The US Justice Department asked a federal judge to stay his sweeping injunction barring many government interactions with social media companies on free-speech grounds, arguing that it was vague, confusing and likely to be overturned on appeal. “The Court’s July 4 preliminary injunction is both sweeping in scope and vague in its terms,” lawyers led by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton wrote in a filing before US District Judge Terry Doughty in Louisiana, citing rules that require the document to make clear “exactly what conduct is proscribed.” The government team ask

Meta’s new microblogging app Threads is emerging as a potential threat to Twitter’s lock on politicians and political observers seeking real-time news and debate.  Most Twitter competitors have struggled to match the size and bipartisanship of its user base, but Threads is garnering significant participation from both parties.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will regularly post Digital Equity plans on this website. If you’re unsure about when your state’s digital equity plan will be available for public comment, we recommend bookmarking the link and checking it frequently. The public comment period is a mandatory step in the State Digital Equity Plan process that solicits a public response and comments on the draft plan. To know when to expect your

Two months after President Biden took office, his top digital adviser emailed officials at Facebook urging them to do more to limit the spread of “vaccine hesitancy” on the social media platform. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, officials held “weekly sync” meetings with Facebook, once emailing the company 16 “misinformation” posts. And in the summer of 2021, the surgeon general’s top aide repeatedly urged Google, Facebook and Twitter to do more to combat disinformation.