The future is online. Actually, the present is online, and the future more so. The COVID-19 pandemic, and the constant refrain about the “new normal” prove that not only is internet access vital to 21st century life; high-speed access is… Read More ›
The legislative session has ended and Governor Newsom is expected to sign into law S.B. 4 and A.B. 14. These bills stand as the final pieces of the state’s new broadband infrastructure program. With a now-estimated $7.5 billion assembled between… Read More ›
In what appears to be a “throw spaghetti on the wall approach” to stopping antitrust reform targeting Big Tech, a few Members of Congress and a range of former military and intelligence officials wrote a letter asserting that these companies… Read More ›
The tech companies behind the so-called “sharing economy” have drawn the ire of brick-and-mortar businesses and local governments across the country. For example, take-out apps such as GrubHub and UberEats have grown into a hundred-billion-dollar industry over the past decade,… Read More ›
The U.S. Senate is on the cusp of approving an infrastructure package, which passed a critical first vote last night by 67-32. Negotiations on the final bill are ongoing, but late yesterday NBC News had the draft broadband provisions. There… Read More ›
The Indian government’s new Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code (“2021 Rules”) pose huge problems for free expression and Internet users’ privacy. They include dangerous requirements for platforms to identify the origins of messages and pre-screen content, which fundamentally… Read More ›
A massive number of groups representing interests as diverse as education, agriculture, the tech sector, public and private broadband providers, low-income advocacy, workers, and urban and rural community economic development entities came together on a letter to ask Congress to… Read More ›
The ACCESS Act is one of the most exciting pieces of federal tech legislation this session. Today’s tech giants grew by taking advantage of the openness of the early Internet, but have designed their own platforms to be increasingly inhospitable… Read More ›
When it comes to online services, there are a few very large companies whose gravitational effects can alter the entire tech universe. Their size, power, and diverse levers of control mean that there is no single solution that will put… Read More ›
Last week, Maryland and Montana passed laws requiring judicial authorization to search consumer DNA databases in criminal investigations. These are welcome and important restrictions on forensic genetic genealogy searching (FGGS)—a law enforcement technique that has become increasingly common and impacts… Read More ›