Internet Access

Infrastructure Law’s Digital Equity Goals Are Key to Smart Cities that Work for Everyone

Smart cities promise a shining future, but without deliberate efforts to include underserved communities they can worsen the digital divide.

  • By Gregory Porumbescu, The Conversation

Broadband Dominates Tech Funding In Biden Infrastructure Bill

Funds would go to expanding broadband and 5G connectivity nationwide.

  • By Alexandra Kelley

Are You Really Smart, or Is It Just Google?

“We’re seeing that people even forget that they googled a question,” a researcher said.

  • By University of Texas at Austin, Futurity

FDIC’s Temporary Wi-Fi Network Tool Doesn’t Have Needed Security Authorizations

The program is in limbo while the tool awaits an ATO, prompting the inspector general’s office to express its “concerns.”

  • By Aaron Boyd

FCC Releases First U.S. Mobile Broadband Map

The map, which shows where the four largest mobile carriers offer voice and data services, is a step toward improving the accuracy of high-speed internet access data.

  • By Andrea Noble

Fight for Control Threatens to Destabilize and Fragment the Internet

International power plays are a threat to a stable, open internet.

  • By Nick Merrill, The Conversation

Teens Have a Hard Time Finding Truth Online

Researchers say students need to be prepared for a world filled with a continual flow of misleading information.

  • By Stanford University, Futurity

Lawmakers Ask USDA, HUD and FCC to Cooperatively Help Expand Internet Access

Together, the agencies could make better use of data to close connectivity gaps, they argue.

  • By Brandi Vincent

Libraries Eligible for Billions in Federal Funding to Improve Connectivity for Residents

The Emergency Connectivity Fund Program, announced by the Federal Communications Commission, will help libraries purchase laptops, Wi-Fi hot spots and more for patrons.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

Senate Bill Would Improve Rural Broadband Investment

The bipartisan legislation would give local and state governments new financing options for broadband projects.

  • By Frank Konkel

Billions of Federal Dollars to Close Broadband Gaps are About to Start Flowing

The FCC has launched a program that provides $50 subsidies to help households pay internet bills and also approved rules for a $7 billion fund for libraries and schools.

  • By Andrea Noble

Biden Infrastructure Plan Includes Billions for Federal Buildings and Research

The American Jobs Plan proposes spending a small chunk of the $2 trillion on improving federal office buildings and hospitals.

  • By Aaron Boyd

Lawmakers Urge Internet Companies to Join New Discount Broadband Program

The Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, slated to start at the end of April, will provide discounts on internet service to struggling households.

  • By Andrea Noble

The FCC Wants Your Feedback to Improve Broadband Access

In an effort to create more accurate maps detailing broadband connections and service, the Federal Communications Commission is collecting first-hand accounts from users.

  • By Andrea Noble
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Lawmaker to Reintroduce Net Neutrality Legislation Within Weeks

Supporters say giving the Federal Communications Commission greater authority over internet service providers is more important in the wake of the pandemic. 

  • By Mariam Baksh

Facebook's News Blockade in Australia Shows How Tech Giants Are Swallowing the Web

The internet in 2021 is not the same open public sphere that Tim Berners-Lee envisioned.

  • By Jennifer Grygiel, The Conversation

The Need for Internet Interstate Infrastructure

The U.S. needs a digital infrastructure plan today in much the same way that it required a physical infrastructure plan in the 1950s.

  • By Karen Walsh

No Internet, No Vaccine: How Lack of Internet Access Has Limited Vaccine Availability for Racial and Ethnic Minorities

It appears that internet access is emerging as a new and troublesome determinant of health.

  • By Tamra Burns Loeb, AJ Adkins-Jackson and Arleen F. Brown, The Conversation

Agencies that Put People First Will Close the Equity Gap

In the coming months, federal agencies will be asked to look anew at whether and to what extent they are serving everyone.

  • By Elaine Beeman

Former Federal CIO on the Tech Challenges the Biden Administration Faces

Vivek Kundra joins the GovExec Daily podcast to discuss the future of public sector cloud computing.

  • By Ross Gianfortune and Adam Butler

How the Biden Administration Can Restore Trust in Government

Governments can use technology to meet people where they are, serve people better in their real lives, and make successes visible to demonstrate the value of effective governing.

  • By Jeremy M. Goldberg