November 2021

Biden administration makes first move on data privacy

The Biden administration is launching its first big effort on privacy policy by looking at how data privacy issues affect civil rights. An administration perspective on privacy policy could be key in developing a long-awaited national privacy law by putting the White House stamp on how to regulate privacy.

Why Digital Equity Is About So Much More Than Access and Infrastructure

Understanding that every school and district will take a different path toward their realization of digital equity, depending on their context and culture, we recommend an iterative, ongoing process which includes six key steps:

The staggeringly high price of a prison phone call

In the United States’ jails and prisons, many incarcerated people are charged steep fees to make phone calls to the outside world. The correctional telecom industry rakes in more than $1.4 billion annually from prisoner phone calls.

Sponsor: 

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

Department of Commerce

Date: 
Tue, 12/14/2021 - 13:00 to Thu, 12/16/2021 - 15:30

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will convene three virtual Listening Sessions about issues and potential solutions at the intersection of privacy, equity, and civil rights. The sessions will help to provide the data for a report on the ways in which commercial data flows of personal information can lead to disparate impact and outcomes for marginalized or disadvantaged communities.

The meetings will be held on December 14, 15, and 16, 2021, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Eastern Standard Time.



Sponsor: 

LightBox

Date: 
Wed, 12/08/2021 - 11:00 to 12:30

The U.S. Is Poised to Begin Closing the Broadband Gap. Are You Prepared?

Working together, the government, broadband service providers, and NGOs have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to close the nation’s broadband gaps by tapping into more than $100 billion in federal funds tied to Covid relief, the American Rescue Plan Act, and the recent Infrastructure Investment Act.



The Era of the Broadband Public-Private Partnership

A remarkable wave of public-private collaboration in broadband is underway—a wave that began in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic and will likely reach a crest in the next few years as many tens of billions of dollars of public and private capital are invested in next-generation broadband. COVID-19 demonstrated to American policymakers the absolute need for plentiful connectivity and the crises faced by those who don’t have it—and simultaneously demonstrated to private investors the economic potential of best-in-class, future-proof broadband.