In August 2020, during the heart of the covid-19 pandemic when many schools were closed, social media and news outlets were awash with a picture of two grade school students sitting outside of a Taco Bell, attempting to do their schoolwork. That one picture changed millions of minds about the necessity for everyone in the US, regardless of economic status or geographic location, to have an affordable broadband Internet connection. It would not be hyperbole to say that this one photo was one of the motivating factors behind Congress including $14.2 billion for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) in the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Unfortunately, unless Congress acts very quickly, low-income Americans may again be forced to sit outside of fast-food restaurants to get internet access. In spite of widespread popularity, the ACP will run out of money by the end of April. The intense but so far unsuccessful effort over the past year by a wide swath of stakeholders to secure funding for the ACP is clear evidence of why the congressional appropriations process is ill-suited for funding important telecommunications priorities, like universal access to affordable broadband. Fortunately, there is a better alternative—the FCC's Universal Service Fund (USF) spends approximately $8 billion dollars every year to help close the digital divide. The USF must be reenvisioned to address today’s needs, including ensuring that there is a permanent funding mechanism for the ACP’s subsidy for low-income households. We are facing another “kids doing school work in front of a Taco Bell so they can use the Wi-Fi” moment, where over 23 million US households are in danger of losing affordable connectivity. The FCC has an opportunity and the power to save the program it stood up and nurtured. It should do so with urgency.

[Gigi Sohn is one of the nation’s leading public advocates for open, affordable, and democratic communications networks. Greg Guice has over two decades of experience working on federal efforts to close the digital divide in rural and tribal communities and for low-income families across the country.]

California can keep enforcing its state net neutrality law after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) implements its own rules. The FCC could preempt future state laws if they go far beyond the national standard but said that states can "experiment" with different regulations for interconnection payments and zero-rating. The FCC scheduled an April 25 vote on Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's proposal to restore net neutrality rules similar to the ones introduced during the Obama era and repealed under former President Trump. The FCC released the text of the pending order, which could still be changed but isn't likely to get any major overhaul. State-level enforcement of net neutrality rules can benefit consumers, the FCC said. The order said that "state enforcement generally supports our regulatory efforts by dedicating additional resources to monitoring and enforcement, especially at the local level, and thereby ensuring greater compliance with our requirements."

The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) is now accepting grant applications for the Digital Connectivity and Navigators Program. This program aims to improve internet connectivity in the state by providing access to devices, technology, and digital navigators. Under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the US Department of the Treasury awarded Wisconsin $33 million through the Capital Projects Fund (CPF) to administer this program. The Digital Connectivity and Navigators Program promotes digital connectivity by deploying devices such as computers, laptops, and tablets for eligible households to access. The program also promotes digital connectivity through the installation of Wi-Fi equipment in eligible multidwelling unit, which includes apartment buildings, condominiums, and mobile home parks. Both approaches will include the provision of digital navigation services to ensure Wisconsinites can make full use of the internet for work, education, health monitoring, and other essential activities. A digital navigator is a trusted guide who assists others with internet adoption and digital device use.

For streamers like Paramount, Disney, Netflix, and Peacock, it’s not enough that you watch TV on the platform—they want to own what you do on your phone, too. Paramount announced today that it would launch a new “mobile shopping experience” during this weekend’s CMT Music Awards red carpet. Partnering with a company called Shopsense AI, Paramount says viewers will be able to browse and purchase items inspired by what’s happening on their TV. Streaming platforms have approached shopping in a few different ways. On Peacock, subscribers get ads for items related to what they’re watching, like the kitchen utensils being used on a cooking show. They then scan a QR code from their TV and can buy the items on their phone.  In January, Disney announced it would test sending ads for products to viewers while they watched through emails or push notifications to their phone. Disney said the personalized notices would let audiences shop “without disrupting their viewing experience.” TV isn’t the only place where shopping is poised to play an even bigger role. Social media platforms like TikTok and Pinterest have added more and more e-commerce features in recent years for the same reason: they want to keep you in the walled garden, from discovering a product to hitting the “order” button. 

Leading AI companies have a favorite phrase when it comes to describing where they get the data to train their models: They say it's "publicly available" on the internet. "Publicly available" can sound like the company has permission to use the information—but, in many ways, it's more like the legal equivalent of "finders, keepers." "That phrase confuses people," said developer Ed Newton-Rex. "It's probably designed to confuse people." Newton-Rex spent years building AI audio systems before resigning from Stability AI, citing concerns about generative systems built with copyrighted material. The term, perhaps by design, sounds like "public domain"—which refers to information that is no longer subject to copyright protection or otherwise made freely available. As for what constitutes "publicly available" content, OpenAI says, "We only use publicly available information that is freely and openly available on the internet—for example, we do not use information that is password protected or behind paywalls."