This one day event brought together broadband champions from federal, state, and local government, as well as community leaders and policy experts. Features included a mayors’ panel, successful models in broadband deployment, E-Rate and funding opportunities, 5G and small cells, as well as an update about the recent municipal gain…
News
The Street: With Democrats Taking the House, Privacy and Antitrust Are Key Issues to Watch
Changes are coming to Congress, and potentially to the tech industry as well. Tuesday's midterm election results are projected to give Democrats control of the House of Representatives, while Republicans will retain their majority in the Senate. In addition to providing a check on the President Trump's and the GOP-controlled Senate's policy…
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Bloomberg Law: House Democrats to Spotlight Net Neutrality, Broadband Access
House Democrats are likely to champion a telecom agenda at odds with Republican policies in the next Congress, including reinstating Obama-era net neutrality rules. Democrats also may try to shield media ownership regulations and Federal Communications Commission programs aimed at helping low-income consumers afford their phone bills. “We plan to…
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Wired: The Midterm Election Didn’t Salvage Net Neutrality
Tuesday's midterms don't shed much light on the future of net neutrality. But advocates do see rays of hope shining through the fog of uncertainty. Democrats, who generally favor rules barring internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon from blocking or otherwise discriminating against content, took control of the House. And even…
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Variety: What a Democratic Midterm Victory Would Mean for Hollywood
If Democrats take one or both houses of Congress, many entertainment industry figures will be joyous over the new check on President Trump and the prospects for taking back the White House in 2020. For the business side of entertainment, Democratic control may be a mixed blessing. What can be…
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The Street: Trump is Taking Antitrust ‘Very Seriously’ – What Does that Mean for Big Tech?
In a recent interview, President Trump said his administration was looking "very seriously" at the idea that companies including Facebook, Amazon and Alphabet have gotten too big -- although he appeared to contradict himself throughout the course of the interview. Speaking to Axios, Trump said: "I'm not looking to hurt these…
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NBC News: U.S. Supreme Court declines appeal against net neutrality laws
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined an appeal to examine Obama-era net neutrality rules that had been cheered by open internet advocates. Several major internet providers sought to throw out a 2016 rulingby the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in favor of net neutrality rules that require…
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The Hill: Advocates push to beef up privacy regulator.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is under pressure after recent privacy scandals as critics question if the agency has the regulatory teeth to oversee the tech industry’s customer data policies. The new scrutiny also comes with Congress mulling federal privacy legislation. Many privacy and consumer watchdogs say beefing up the…
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Speaking
2018 Everett C. Parker Lecture: Bending the Arc Towards Media and Social Justice
On October 11, 2018, the United Church of Christ's media justice ministry awarded Gigi Sohn the Everett C. Parker Award. Here are her prepared remarks for the event. Thank you Cheryl. It’s wonderful to be introduced by one of my very first and very best hires. It gives me great pride to…
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Washington Post: Here’s how the FCC plans to defend its net neutrality repeal in federal court.
The Federal Communications Commission told a federal court on Thursday that it acted properly when it repealed the U.S. government’s net neutrality rules in 2017, marking its first legal salvo in a campaign to battle 22 states and tech companies including Mozilla, Facebook and Google that contend the agency’s move was…