Video Conferencing with Disabilities, House Bill Promoting U.S. Electronics, Wi

Video conference platforms would need to follow Americans with Disabilities Act requirements under the Communications Act

Published

on

By

May 17, 2023 – The head of the Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday that she is proposing to require video conferencing platforms to follow accessibility requirements under the Communications Act.

The proposal by Jessica Rosenworcel would require platforms like Microsoft Teams, WebEx, and Zoom to incorporate accessibility measures such as text-to-speech capabilities, speech-to-text (captioning) capabilities, and allowing the use of American Sign Language (ASL) interpreting.

"The pandemic taught us all the value of video conferencing—to stay connected, to get work done, to stay in touch with our doctors, and much more," Rosenworcel said. "But for many people with disabilities, making effective use of these platforms continues to be a challenge. Today, I’ve proposed taking a bold step in ensuring that video conferencing platforms are usable by all who rely on them to stay connected to their family, friends, co-workers, and community."

Legislation that outlined similar measures was introduced in the last Congress by Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif.

"People with disabilities deserve equal access to the tools and technologies that define life in the 21st century – and that includes video conferencing," Markey and Eshoo said in a statement. "Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, video conferencing has become increasingly essential for work, education, and healthcare, but many video conferencing services fall short for people with disabilities, leaving them disconnected.

"We applaud Chairwoman Rosenworcel for her leadership and look forward to working with the FCC to ensure people with disabilities have full access to video conferencing platforms and other important services."

The proposed rulemaking will go to the rest of the commission for a vote. If pushed forward, it will go to the public for comment.

Lawmakers introduced legislation in the House on Thursday for a bill that would incentivize American companies to reshore the production of printed circuit boards through a tax credit and financial assistance program.

The Protecting Circuit Boards and Substrates Act, introduced by Reps. Blake Moore, R-Utah, and Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., would incentivize domestic manufacturing of PCBs through a financial assistance program modeled after the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which allocated $52 billion dollars to domestic semiconductor manufacturing. It also issues a 25 percent tax credit for organizations that purchase PCB produced in America.

"Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are critical components of almost every piece of electronics used today," said a statement on the bill's introduction. "However, over the past two decades, a vast majority of PCB manufacturing has moved offshore, making PCBs vulnerable to tampering by foreign adversaries, and only 4% of PCBs are manufactured in the United States.

"If we want to ensure technological superiority across the global stage and strengthen national security, we need to bring PCB production back to America, which is exactly what my bipartisan bill does," stated Eshoo.

Ookla data show that Wi-Fi performance still falls behind hard-wired ethernet connections within broadband networks in the home, "with Wi-Fi speeds typically ranging from between 30-40% of ethernet speeds during Q1 2023."

Internet Service Providers are constantly searching for ways to offer more advanced Wi-Fi networks, routers, and solutions, Ookla said. The adoption of new Wi-Fi routers has already helped narrow the gap between Wi-Fi and ethernet speeds in many countries during the previous year, but in other countries such as Taiwan and the U.K., the opposite is true, meaning that alternative – more advanced Wi-Fi technologies such as Wi-Fi 6 and 6E – are necessary, the data company said.

The older Wi-Fi 4G and 5G networks remain the dominant generations of Wi-Fi globally. According to Ookla's Speedtest Intellegence data, as of February of this year, Wi-Fi 6 represents just 9.6 percent of shares of Wi-Fi samples around the world, with Asian markets in the lead.

Hong Kong and China recorded a 42 percent adoption of Wi-Fi 6, Singapore recorded an adoption of 37 percent, and North America follows with the U.S. recording 32 percent and Canada recording 30 percent. European fixed markets are further behind with the U.K. at a 13 percent adoption rate.

ASUS has lead the market for providing Wi-Fi 6/6E routers, being 39 percent of the Wi-Fi 6/6E routers sampled by Speedtest Intelligence. Other leading router producers along with ASUS have slowly begun to release Wi-Fi generation 7 routers, but many ISPs and large smartphone vendors such as Apple and Samsung are against this immediate jump to Wi-Fi 7 due to China's "lack of assignment of 6 GHz spectrum for unlicensed use in China."

TikTok Fights Montana Ban, FCC Investigates ACP Qualification, Starry Digital Equity Work

FCC Releases Broadband Funding Map, ‘Most’ Map Data Issues Resolved, More Midband Spectrum

Gillian Marcucci studied Political Science at Brigham Young University and wrote for the BYU Political Review for more than two years. She also worked for a Utah representative during the state's legislative session.

Tom Reid: Accountability in Broadband Maps Necessary for BEAD to Achieve Mission

Lawmakers Want Spectrum Auction Money to Fund Rip and Replace Program

FCC Releases Broadband Funding Map, ‘Most’ Map Data Issues Resolved, More Midband Spectrum

Debra Berlyn: Creating a Path to Close the Digital Divide for Older Adults

New Variant of Passive Optical Networking Beginning to Take Root: Broadband Communities

Crown Castle CEO Says 5G Plus Fixed Wireless Can Rival Fiber Connections

The AI Disclosure Act would require disclosures on all AI-generated content.

Published

on

By

Representative Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y. will introduce a bill this week that would require any content generated by artificial intelligence to include a disclaimer noting the source of the content.

The AI Disclosure Act of 2023 would require that any AI-generated content include the statement, "Disclaimer: this output has been generated by artificial intelligence." The Federal Trade Commission would be responsible for implementation and enforcement of the law.

"AI is the most revolutionary technology of our time. It has the potential to be a weapon of mass disinformation, dislocation, and destruction," Torres said in a statement. Regulation of the technology will be "one of the central challenges confronting Congress in the years and decades to come."

According to Torres, the disclosure is "the simplest place to start" AI regulation. "Disclosure is by no means a magic bullet but it's a common-sense starting point to what will surely be a long road to regulation," Torres said.

A group of AI experts issued a statement in May claiming that "mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war."

The warning comes as Congress focuses its attention on AI regulation, as a proliferation of increasingly sophisticated AI chatbots emerge in the market.

Quantum Fiber, a Lumen Technologies brand, announced Monday its gigabit internet speeds are now available in 18 additional cities across the country.

The additional cities are: Boise in Idaho; Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Naples and Orlando in Florida; Colorado Springs and Denver in Colorado; Des Moines in Iowa; Las Vegas in Nevada; Minneapolis in Minnesota; Omaha in Nebraska; Phoenix and Tucson in Arizona; Portland in Oregon; Salt Lake City in Utah; and Seattle, Spokane and Vancouver in Washington.

"With each new city, thousands more people gain access to our reliable internet. It's an investment with rippling benefits for not only families and businesses, but also our larger work to support digital inclusion," Maxine Moreau, Lumen president of mass markets, said in a press release.

The company is set to connect more than 500,000 homes and small businesses this year, it said. "We’re excited to expand our fiber footprint with gig and multi-gig internet into these markets," said Moreau.

Florida announced Friday that Charter Communications will receive approximately $14.3 million for eight projects across the state as part of the Broadband Opportunity Program.

The 22 announced awards this round make up $60 million in broadband investments. Providers are required to deploy fiber broadband with 1 Gbps symmetrical download and upload speeds.

More than $226 million has been awarded through Florida's Broadband Opportunity Program, which will connect more than 250,000 addresses in the state. The state allocated $400 million of the funds to increase reliable broadband service within the state in a competitive reimbursement grant program.

The state was awarded nearly $9 billion through the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Program under the American Rescue Plan Act, which delivered $350 billion to states to support the response to the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Debt legislation will limit federal discretionary spending, facilitate environmental permitting for infrastructure projects.

Published

on

By

June 1, 2023 — The House passed a bill Wednesday night to suspend the debt limit for a further two years on a bipartisan 314-117 vote.

The legislation was negotiated by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in late May that would suspend the debt ceiling for two years. In exchange, the Biden Administration would be required to limit growth of federal discretionary spending over the next two years to one percent, a budget cut when accounting for increasing inflation rates.

Biden will also be required to adjust work requirements for certain recipients of food stamps and the Temporary Aid for Needy Families program.

Suspending the debt limit, which caps U.S. borrowing and is currently set at $31.4 trillion, will allow the government to keep borrowing money as needed to pay its bills. Under this legislation, the new cap will be set at the spending level it has reached when the suspension expires in 2025.

The legislation includes some minor steps addressing environmental permitting for energy project reviews, although the changes are less sweeping than those proposed by Republications. The agreement as passed by the House amends the National Environmental Policy Act by requiring a single federal agency to lead environmental reviews for infrastructure projects. It also sets a one-year deadline for agencies to issue environmental assessments and a two-year deadline for environmental impact statements.

"These changes will help us build more quickly and responsibly; build more solar, build more wind, EV chargers, transmission, and the other infrastructure we need to secure a clean energy economy," a White House official said during a media briefing.

The agreement must now pass the Senate and be signed by the president before Monday, June 5, which the U.S. Treasury marked as the day it runs out of funds, to take effect. It now heads to the Senate for a vote where it is expected to pass after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-K.Y., endorsed it.

Although the bill received bipartisan support, conservative Republican representatives opposed the bill because it contains only a fraction of the deficit reduction they initially lobbied for, and progressive Democrat representatives opposed the bill over its expansion of work requirements for welfare programs.

The Chinese Communist Party warned in a statement Tuesday against the possible risks artificial intelligence can pose to political and social issues.

Chinese President Xi JinPing urged for China to adopt "dedicated efforts to safeguard political security and improve the security governance of internet data and artificial intelligence."

He highlighted security concerns regarding advancing technologies and called for the CCP to stay "keenly aware of the complicated and challenging circumstances facing national security and correctly grasping major national security issues."

The CCP must be prepared to "deal with worse-case and extreme-case scenario," Xi said. He called for the establishment of a risk monitoring and early warning system and a "new pattern of development with a new security architecture."

This comes a week after State Department officials called for a U.S-led global coalition to set AI regulations. Jennifer Bachus, assistant secretary of state for Cyberspace and Digital Policy, said that the United States and China should not pit against one another, claiming it would "ultimately always lead to a problem."

Instead, Bachus called for an alliance of the U.S., the European Union, and Japan to take the lead in creating a legal framework to govern AI.

"This is the exact moment where the US needs to show leadership," she said. "This is a shared problem and we need a shared solution."

Germany-based operator of internet exchanges, DE-CIX, and Connected Nation Internet Exchange Points, a joint venture between nonprofit Connected Nation and Newby Ventures, announced in May a strategic partnership for operation of edge internet exchange points in unserved and underserved markets across the United States.

The deal will foster the development of new connectivity hubs in rural areas and will seek to "significantly improve" regional internet performance and build new carrier-neutral interconnection facilities in at least 125 communities in 43 states, a press release said.

With the deal, DE-CIX becomes the IXP platform operator inside CNIXP facilities. IXP's enable the interconnection and exchange of internet traffic between more than two independent systems.

"People and businesses – and in particular the research and educational sector – in American cities beyond the major hubs need and deserve better Internet performance – faster, lower latency, more resilient, and more secure access to content, clouds, and applications," said Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX.

"An IXP and its ecosystem of connected networks and data centers increases the speed and resilience of Internet connectivity through optimizing the routes for data transport and offering greater redundant data pathways," read the press release. "It also brings down the costs of connectivity and enables locally bound data to remain local."

Mississippi will receive $151 million from Treasury's Capital Projects Fund.

Published

on

By

May 31, 2023 – The Treasury Department on Tuesday announced the approval of $151.5 million toward high-speed internet projects in Mississippi.

The money Mississippi will receive will be put toward the Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi fund. The program will fund three different types of broadband investments: community-based broadband projects, line extensions, and large-scale projects. The state is estimating these funds will connect approximately 47,300 business and homes to affordable, high-speed internet.

The money is being allocated from the Treasury's Capital Projects Fund, which is part of the Biden administration's Investing in America agenda.

"The pandemic upended life as we knew it and exposed the stark inequity in access to affordable and reliable high-speed internet in communities across the country, including rural, Tribal, and other underrepresented communities," Wally Adeyemo, deputy secretary of the treasury, said in a press release. "This funding is a key piece of the Biden-Harris Administration's historic investments to increase access to high-speed internet for millions of Americans and provide more opportunities to fully participate and compete in the 21st century economy."

FCC announced Wednesday it is committing another $15 million from the Emergency Connectivity Fund toward connectivity for students away from school.

The latest funding round will go to support approximately 50 schools, five libraries, and 35,000 students, including in New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Delaware, Indiana, and California.

"This program has helped millions of students get the digital tools they need for online learning and connecting with teachers," FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a press release. "Today's funding round is another step in our ongoing work to close the Homework Gap."

In total, the program has supported 120 consortia, 1,000 libraries, 11,000 schools, and has funded more than eight million broadband connections and almost 13 million connected devices.

Almost $6.7 billion in funding commitments has been approved so far out of the $7.1-billion program

The Federal Communications Commission is proposing a fine of $1.4 million on a communications service provider that allegedly failed to pay fees to four agency funds and regulatory costs.

The FCC says PayG – which is doing business as communications service provider SkySwitch – has between 2018 to 2021 failed to pay $404,416.28 into the Universal Service Fund, the North American Numbering Plan, the Local Number Portability, and the Telecommunications Relay Service Fund.

"Each of these funding mechanisms play a critical role in supporting vital programs for the public that make the United States a global leader in the provision of communications services. Providers must fulfill their responsibilities to meet their deadlines and obligations to pay the full amount of what they owe in a timely manner," FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan Egal said in a press release.

PayG will have the opportunity to present its case to the FCC addressing the proposed fine.

hbspt.forms.create({ region: "na1", portalId: "20721996", formId: "0f5acd00-6960-4d68-8f00-9516bbbca6e9" });

BroadbandNow: Internet Provider Search and research on the digital divide

AT&T Closes Open Access Fiber Deal With BlackRock

Starlink Likes FCC Direction on 12 GHz, Verizon & Comcast Urge ACP Funding, FCC Head on ACP Tour

Scott Wallsten: A $10 Billion Broadband Black Hole?

Crown Castle CEO Says 5G Plus Fixed Wireless Can Rival Fiber Connections

Broadband Breakfast on June 7, 2023 – Affordable Connectivity Fund (Special Town Hall Edition)

Debra Berlyn: Creating a Path to Close the Digital Divide for Older Adults

New ACP Landing Page, Cellular Association Wants More Mid-Band Spectrum, New Ezee Fiber CEO

NTIA Should Remove Letter of Credit Requirement in BEAD Program, Event Hears