NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson broke news on infrastructure implementation during his conversation with Broadband Breakfast this week.
April 15, 2022 – Fierce Telecom, Telecompetitor, Connectivity Business News and Multichannel News have all written on Broadband Breakfast’s conversation with National Telecommunications and Information Administrator Alan Davidson from Wednesday.
Outlets emphasized Davidson’s comment that his agency’s goal is to provide the entire country with 100 Megabits per second download (Mbps) * 20 Mbps upload service – a major development to come out of Wednesday’s event.
Fierce Telecom wrote that it is unclear how many employees the NTIA will add to its staff to support its broadband infrastructure programs, with four job listings posted by the agency at present.
Telecompetitor raised that a definition of what a low-cost broadband option is as well as requirements for consultation with local stakeholders still must be outlined in the agency’s notice of funding opportunity once it is released.
Additionally on Wednesday, Davidson said that the federal infrastructure bill’s requirement for network operators to contribute 25% of a Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program project’s cost is a floor rather than a ceiling.
Last week the Fiber Broadband Association and NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association sent a letter to Alan Davidson asking his agency to fund only “competent providers,” focus on “proven” fiber technology for infrastructure builds and connect underserved areas first, according to Fierce Telecom.
They urged the NTIA chief to learn from the struggles of the Federal Communications Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction such as disputes over what constitutes a qualified bidder and whether fixed wireless and satellite services meet the needs of consumers.
“Not one of our providers would hand over a build and operations to an inexperienced provider using an unproven technology,” wrote the groups.
Provider LTD Broadband, the top winner of the RDOF auction, has faced many questions on its ability to meet service obligations and had difficulty securing the necessary state approvals to collect funding from the FCC.
“Perhaps the most important lesson learned from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program,” stated the letter, “is that a premium should be placed on giving funds to competent and financially sound providers that are deploying network technologies that have actually been deployed.”
A new report released Thursday by advocacy group Fairplay finds that Instagram amplifies pro-eating disorder content to users in a manner that creates a harmful community for teen and underaged users.
The social network’s algorithm and data profiling tactics create a pro-eating disorder “bubble” which counts more than 88,000 unique accounts and 20 million unique followers.
In creating 153 “seed” accounts promoting extreme thinness, researchers were able to gain a following of 1.6 million unique users and identified over 88,600 followers which followed three or more of these seed accounts.
Users within this bubble had a median age of 18 and 21 were under 13, counting ages as young as nine despite Instagram requiring its users to be at least 13.
Instagram parent company Meta is estimated to derive $2 million in yearly revenue from the bubble.
The report comes as Meta continues to face heightened scrutiny from lawmakers over its services’ impact on body image for young users.
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Reporter T.J. York received his degree in political science from the University of Southern California. He has experience working for elected officials and in campaign research. He is interested in the effects of politics in the tech sector.
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The former president targeted the decision making of those in power at major social media companies.
April 22, 2022 – On Thursday former President Barack Obama placed blame on big tech companies for the disinformation crisis gripping America as the country continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic two years on.
Speaking at Stanford University, Obama criticized the decision making of executives at various social media companies that has amplified disinformation and said combatting disinformation will take government reform, action from tech-company employees and changes in the way online users consume news and information.
He also offered support for reforming Section 230 liability protections for online companies.
Earlier this month at an event hosted by The Atlantic magazine and the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, Obama said he “underestimated the degree to which democracies are vulnerable” to misinformation and disinformation and that combatting the issue requires a mix of regulation and an industry-standards approach.
That event also featured various other panels including conversation among lead researchers on the role algorithms play in disinformation and how much they truly are to blame.
The Department of Energy announced Thursday that it would invest $12 million in cybersecurity innovations to protect critical infrastructure such as in the energy sector.
The funds will go towards six university-led projects at Florida International University, Iowa State University, New York University, Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, University of Illinois in Chicago and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
These projects will focus on research, development and demonstrations of new cyber technology that will help to advance data-related fields like artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The Southern California Association of Governments and the California Emerging Technology Fund, in partnership with the Los Angeles Digital Equity Action League, is targeting vehicle emissions with a series of recommendations to increase broadband adoption and allow for work from home.
The California Air Resources Board has assigned to SCAG a target of reducing greenhouse gases by 19% from 2005 levels by 2035.
The groups say that depending on the scope and speed of action, their region may be able to reduce its GHG emissions by up to 15%.
International alert warns about Russian cyberattacks.
WASHINGTON, April 21, 2022 — The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the National Security Agency released an advisory about Russian cyberattacks on Wednesday in partnership with multiple international organizations.
“Evolving intelligence indicates that the Russian government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks,” the advisory said. “Recent Russian state-sponsored cyber operations have included distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, and older operations have included deployment of destructive malware against Ukrainian government and critical infrastructure organizations.”
The advisory also warned that some cybercrime groups are working with the Russian government.
This development comes after government officials warned the private sector about potential Russian cyberattacks in the most recent episode of CBS’s “60 Minutes,” including an uptick in Russian officials scanning and probing American companies in an effort to attack.
The U.S. Government has made many other efforts to protect companies from potential Russian cyberattacks. Along with warnings, lawmakers have passed legislation including the Better Cybercrime Metrics Act and the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022. Other government officials, including people from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and President Joe Biden himself, have also publicly warned citizens about the danger of Russian cyberattacks.
On Wednesday, Lawmakers released a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg asking him to address the spread of disinformation surrounding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the platform to Spanish-speaking users.
“We write to you regarding our serious concern with Meta’s (formerly Facebook’s) lack of progress addressing the pressing issue of Spanish-language disinformation across its platforms. Since the beginning of the year, Russian state-controlled outlets have made a concentrated effort to target Spanish-speaking communities to spread false-narratives leading up to, and in the aftermath of, the invasion of Ukraine. The viral spread of these narratives stands in stark contrast to assurances that Meta made to the public and Members of Congress that it is prioritizing the pressing needs of Hispanic communities in the United States,” states the letter.
The letter was signed by multiple Democratic lawmakers including Richard Blumenthal, D-CT, Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn, and Jim Costa, D-CA.
Lawmakers concluded the letter by asking Zuckerberg to answer a series of questions centered on addressing the issue.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will fail if an adequate supply of labor and equipment isn’t provided, said a Thursday blog post from the think tank Technology Policy Institute.
“The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) has made money for broadband and other infrastructure much less scarce than it normally is. Unfortunately, the real resources—labor and equipment—appear to be far scarcer than they normally are. Even with the additional money, the IIJA will not succeed if these constraints on real resources are not addressed,” said TPI President Scott Wallsten.
The country is currently facing supply chain issues that are affecting the supply of equipment.
Aiken was previously the president and CEO of the Wireless Internet Service Provers Association.
WASHINGTON, April 20, 2022 – Nextlink Internet announced that former Wireless Internet Service Provers Association President and CEO Claude Aiken will be the service provider’s chief strategy officer and chief legal officer of the company.
Aiken served as president and CEO with WISPA since March of 2018, and announced in February that he would be stepping down effective this month. Previously, Aiken had served as an attorney and advisor for the Federal Communications Commission for nearly ten years.
“We are excited to welcome Claude and strengthen the Nextlink leadership team with a nationally recognized leader in the connectivity space,” Nextlink Founder and CEO Bill Baker said in a statement.
“I look forward to working closely with Bill and the entire team to promote strategic investments and strong policies that close the digital divide for communities around the country,” Aiken said.
Nextlink primarily serves rural Americans across Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas.
The Federal Communications Commission has announced it will commit $37 million as part of its 13th wave from the Emergency Connectivity Fund program that will to close the “homework gap.”
This most recent round of funding will go to support 170 schools, 30 libraries, and four additional facilities in Alaska, Indiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
“Reliable and affordable access to broadband is a must for everyone, and especially for our students,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. “I’m proud of the work we are doing to close the Homework Gap and pleased that we can offer this support for the next school year.”
The funding in question can be used in almost any way to facilitate off-campus learning – whether that is securing devices that can access the internet for students, improving connectivity infrastructure, or otherwise facilitating a student’s ability to do homework and communicate with their instructors.
An additional application for funding window will open on April 28 and will run through May 13.
Netflix experienced unprecedented growth during the pandemic, and while that momentum slowed in 2020, the company reported it had lost subscribers for the first time in 10 years during its first quarter call on Tuesday.
According to the streaming service, it lost 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2022.
On Wednesday morning, Netflix’s shares cratered, trading 37 percent lower than the start of the previous day.
Some speculate one reason for the decline may be the continued price increases. Even Netflix’s basic subscription, which had held its price since 2019, increased alongside the standard and premium subscriptions in 2022. Others point to Netflix’s announcement that it would begin cracking down on password sharing; Netflix has previously stated that as many as 100 million households share passwords.
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