Let’s revisit some broadband investments. On Monday, The White House said 20 internet service providers have agreed to offer $30 high-speed internet plans to low-income families, effectively giving free service to households that qualify for a federal subsidy. This is via the Affordable Connectivity Program (or ACP), which provides a $30 monthly discount on internet service, and the program entirely covers these offerings.
The White House estimates the program will cover 48 million households or 40 percent of the country. More than 11.5 million households have already signed up to claim government subsidies.
The FCC has proposed federal funding to provide Wi-Fi on school buses, intended to help close the “homework gap,” addressing students who do not have broadband at home.
A coalition of tech companies, including Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo, have pledged support for a New York bill that bans the use of warrants that can identify people based on their location data and internet search keywords. The bill, if passed, would become the first state law to ban so-called geofence warrants and keyword search warrants, which rely on demanding tech companies turn over data about users who were near the scene of a crime or searched for keywords at a specific point in time.
In the Queen’s Speech opening Parliament in the UK, Prince Charles confirmed reports that the government of the United Kingdom is in the process of reforming its data privacy rules. This raises questions about the UK’s compliance with EU regulations going forward.
Finally, Clearview AI, that company in the facial recognition business, settled with civil rights groups this week and won’t sell its full facial recognition database and algorithm to private companies for use in the U.S. The suit was settled in Illinois, with specific laws limiting facial recognition technologies.
Why do we care?
More broadband is a positive development – and more access is a long-term win.
With no federal laws coming, state laws become the law of the land – and affect the broader base. Clearview’s outcome was determined by Illinois. This would be simplified by federal action – and it appears it won’t be. Tracking these laws has become an increasingly important part of service delivery.