Technology

FCC Allows City-Owned Internet Providers to Expand

Published

9 years ago

February 26, 2015

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2013, before the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on cell phones on planes. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

EMERY P. DALESIO, AP Business Writer

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — People in small communities may get better, cheaper access to the Internet after the Federal Communications Commission ruled Thursday that city-owned broadband services can expand into areas overlooked by commercial providers.

The decision quietly played out minutes before the FCC took up the higher-profile issue of Internet neutrality, which imposed the toughest rules yet on broadband providers like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T.

In the less prominent case, the cities of Wilson, North Carolina, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, asked the FCC to override state laws that have prevented them from expanding their super-fast Internet networks. They were built when companies didn’t move into their city.

President Barack Obama pushed for the FCC’s decision, saying the state laws stifled competition and economic development. U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, both Republicans, quickly introduced legislation to block the FCC move.

For Richard and Brenda Thornton, the FCC decision could mean a big savings. They live less than a mile from the service area for Chattanooga’s Electric Power Board, which provides one gigabit-per-second Internet speeds. The Thorntons now pay $316 for landline phone service, Internet and television from wireless hot spots that two telephone companies offered. Their current connection is a fraction of the speed the Thorntons could get for $133 a month for the same bundle from Chattanooga.

The local cable company has refused to extend broadband service to their home, said Brenda Thornton, who likes to trade securities and commodities futures but can’t do it because of the slow wireless speed.

“People don’t realize how bad it is if you don’t have a good Internet. Those people that have it, they don’t even realize there’s people like us that exist,” she said.

Local governments that offer broadband contend they were at risk of being left behind economically. More than 450 communities nationwide have municipal broadband offerings, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, which supports community Internet providers.

Those who want to limit municipal broadband say the laws protect taxpayers from government bureaucrats botching business decisions. Chattanooga’s Electric Power Board borrowed $226 million from investors hoping the super-fast phone and Internet service would attract new business to the city of 173,000. City officials credit the network for helping attract tech startups, including a custom shoemaker using 3-D printing technology.

Wilson’s 50,000 residents borrowed $28 million to lay the fiber-optic lines to start its Greenlight service.

Chattanooga charges $70 a month for gigabyte speed internet, while Wilson charges $100.

Critics of the state laws argued they were passed by lawmakers to protect entrenched corporate interests.

“The bottom line of these matters is that some states have created thickets of red tape designed to limit competition,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said.

The vote was 3-2, with both Republican commissioners voting against it, arguing it was outside the commission’s authority, violated state’s rights and undermines private enterprise.

“It is not the government’s role to offer services instead of or in competition with private actors,” said Commissioner Michael O’Rielly.

The decision affects only the two cities in North Carolina and Tennessee — but could set a precedent for others. Still, telecom analyst Paul Gallant of Guggenheim Securities said the city-owned providers aren’t big enough to upset the market, and will need separate FCC action for each case.

___

Emery Dalesio can be reached at http://twitter.com/emerydalesio.

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Attorney General Rob Bonta, Oakland Lawmakers, Introduce Legislation to Protect Youth Online

At a press conference in downtown Oakland on Jan. 29, Attorney General Rob Bonta joined Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) to announce two pieces of legislation designed to protect children online. The bills are Senate Bill (SB) 976, the Protecting Youth from Social Media Addiction Act and Assembly Bill (AB) 1949, the California Children’s Data Privacy Act.

Published

2 weeks ago

April 16, 2024

Oakland Post

From left to right: Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), Attorney General Rob Bonta and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) at a press conference introducing legislation to protect young people online.

By Magaly Muñoz

The bills are Senate Bill (SB) 976, the Protecting Youth from Social Media Addiction Act and Assembly Bill (AB) 1949, the California Children’s Data Privacy Act.

Skinner authored SB 976, which addresses online addiction affecting teenage users, while Wicks’s bill, AB 1949, takes on big tech by proposing data privacy and children rights protections.

“Social media companies unfortunately show us time and time again that they are all too willing to ignore the detriment to our children, the pain to our children, the mental health and physical challenges they face, in order to pursue profits,” Bonta said.

SB 976 would allow parents to control the nature and frequency of the content their under-18-year-old children see on social media. Notifications from social media platforms would also be paused from midnight to 6 am and controls would allow parents to set time limits on their children’s usage based on their discretion.

Skinner stated that the longer that kids are on their phones during the day, the higher the risk for depression, anxiety and other related issues.

The bill would also push to get rid of addictive media that is harmful for young women and girls, specifically image filters that mimic cosmetic plastic surgery.

Bonta and 33 other attorney generals had previously filed a lawsuit against Meta, owner of the popular social media applications Instagram and Facebook. The filing claims that the company purposefully uses algorithmized content that harms younger audiences.

“Social media companies have the ability to protect our kids, they could act, but they do not,” Skinner said.

The Child Data Privacy Act would strengthen existing protections for data privacy under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The lawmakers argue that the law does not have effective protection for those under 18 years old.

Wicks stated that the bill would forbid businesses from collecting, using, sharing, or selling personal data of anyone underage unless they receive informed consent, or it becomes necessary for the purpose of the business.

Wicks added that the acts would make it so that a search on the internet like “How do I lose weight?” would not result in dieting pill advertisements targeting youth, which, some experts report, could be harmful to their mental and physical health.

“In a digital age where the vulnerabilities of young users are continually exploited, we cannot afford to let our laws lag behind, our children deserve complete assurance that their online experience will be safeguarded from invasive practices,” Wicks said.

Supporters of the two acts say they have gained bipartisan support issue, but the authors and Bonta expect them to be met with pushback from the affected companies.

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Unleashing the Power_ Discover the The Thrills…F-TYPE Convertible

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