Broadband Access

Today, the Federal Communications Commission dealt a body blow to the public interest by votingvoted to entrench monopoly in broadcasting and business broadband, Common Cause said. The FCC majority eliminated price restraints on Business Data Services (BDS), allowing incumbent carriers to charge exorbitant rates on small businesses across the country. In a separate proceeding, the same majority voted to reinstate a legal loophole that broadcasters exploit to monopolize ever more of the airwaves.

Ever notice that when you go shopping online, ads for whatever you were shopping for show up in your Facebook and Twitter feeds and on other web pages you visit? Action in Congress on Tuesday dramatically increased the likelihood that you’ll soon be seeing even more such ads.

The President's stated goal of a 75 percent cut in federal regulations in unattainable, and a bad idea to boot.

With today’s vote modernizing the Lifeline program to cover wired or wireless broadband service, the FCC has helped clear a path to the digital age for millions of low-income Americans.

Our media are letting us down. From their mostly vapid coverage of the 2016 Presidential campaign on television to the paucity of new information on the Internet’s major “news” sites, the communications ecosystem is failing our democracy. It’s a failure that has already cost us dearly and a breakdown that will only get worse until we recognize and confront the damage that has been done. Sadly, amid the incessant hurling of personal broadsides and character assassination from many of the candidates, and the ubiquitous replay of sordid electioneering masquerading as “breaking news” on just about every channel, real coverage of issues gets the hindmost.

What happens when a community treats the Internet like an essential service?