Level of Government

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), which represents 800 Federal Communications Commission employees, has come out in support of the nomination of Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society] for the long-vacant fifth seat — and third Democrat — on the Commission. In a letter to Sen Maria Cantwell (D-WA), NTEU said it was concerned about the continued vacancy and that Sohn was a highly qualified nominee whose nomination should be moved out of committee for a floor vote. “NTEU believes that Ms.

In response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Communications Commission has waived certain Lifeline program rules in twelve previous Orders to provide necessary relief for low-income households. The FCC finds good cause exists to continue to waive the Lifeline recertification and reverification requirements for those Lifeline subscribers residing on Tribal lands through January 31, 2023.

Now that the federal government included billions of tax dollars in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to improve internet access to more areas, the task of broadband mapping in Illinois is underway.

On Monday, September 26, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society Director of Research and Fellowships Dr. Revati Prasad hosted an online panel discussion, From the Ground Up: Broadband Mapping By and for Communities, on how communities and states are collecting data on local broadband availability as the Federal Communications Commission rolls out the Broadband Data Collection (BDC) program.

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors recently voted unanimously to provide Arizona State University (ASU) and its collaborators $34.6 million through 2026 to advance broadband, community support, equipment, and training across Maricopa County, which includes the metro Phoenix area. The funding makes ASU home to the largest university-led digital equity initiative in the country. ASU Enterprise Technology, Sun Corridor Network and t

The Federal Communications Commission adopted rules to bring relief to incarcerated people with communication disabilities by easing the obstacles they face in communicating with family, loved ones, and other sources of support.

The Federal Communications Commission updated its Emergency Alert System rules so that alerts delivered over television and radio are more informative and easier to understand by the public, particularly people with disabilities. The Emergency Alert System, which is used by government agencies to send alerts and warnings to the public over television and radio, is comprised of both a legacy system and an Internet-based system, with the latter offering superior messaging capabilities.

Stopgap funding legislation designed to prevent a federal-government shutdown includes language extending the Federal Communication Commission's spectrum-auction authority into December, although the impact on potential funding for next-generation 911 (NG911) deployments remains unclear. Currently, the FCC’s authority to conduct auctions of the radio spectrum—bidding events that have provided airwaves to wireless communications and generated hundreds of billions of dollars for the US Treasury—is set to expire on Friday, Sept. 30.

The US Department of Commerce appointed 24 members to the Industrial Advisory Committee (IAC), an advisory body that will provide guidance to the Secretary of Commerce on a range of issues related to domestic semiconductor research and development in support of CHIPS for America. The committee comprises leaders from a broad range of disciplines in the microelectronics field, including academia, the semiconductor industry, federal laboratories, and other areas. 

The newly appointed members include:

California's unprecedented new law to bolster protections for abortion-related personal information held by tech companies marks a new phase in the deepening legal fight between red and blue states over digital regulations. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) signed into law an abortion rights bill with a provision that protects reproductive digital information housed by companies headquartered or incorporated in the state.