Axios: FCC denies SpaceX nearly $900M in internet service funding. “The Federal Communications Commission rejected SpaceX’s application for nearly $900 million in federal funding to build out its satellite internet service, determining it could not deliver the service the funding program requires.”
Techdirt: Google Fiber’s 2016 Expansion Freeze May Be Coming To An End. “In late 2016, a new era of Alphabet execs began getting cold feet about the high costs and slow returns of the project, and effectively mothballed the entire thing — without admitting that’s what they were doing. The company blew through several CEOs in just a few months, laid off hundreds of employees, froze any real expansion, and cancelled countless installations for users who had been waiting years…. But there are some faint indications that the Google Fiber freeze might be thawing somewhat. “
Washington State University: ‘Nomadic broadband’ helps rural first responders stay connected. “The nomadic system taps a variety of wireless technologies and unused TV and radio wavelengths to provide high‑speed internet in Washington’s rugged, rural Ferry County, where digital connectivity is the sparsest in the state. In an emergency, that void can leave residents and first responders in the dark.”
Microsoft Blog: A street-by-street view of digital inequity in the United States. “Today, Microsoft is releasing a new Digital Equity Data Dashboard to help create better understanding of the economic opportunity gaps in towns, cities and neighborhoods across the United States. The new tool was developed by our Chief Data Science Officer Juan Lavista Ferres and the Microsoft AI for Good Lab, and aggregates public data from the Census Bureau, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), BroadbandNow and Microsoft’s own Broadband Usage Data.”
Ars Technica: Man set up fake ISP to scam low-income people seeking gov’t discounts, FCC says. “An Ohio man created a fake broadband provider in order to scam low-income consumers who thought they were getting government-funded discounts on Internet service and devices, according to the Federal Communications Commission. In a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture released Friday, the FCC proposed a fine of $220,210 against alleged scammer Kyle Traxler.”
Ars Technica: Internet shutdowns cost global economy $10B so far in 2022, VPN report says. “According to a report from Top10VPN, the cost of government-ordered Internet shutdowns in 2022 has cost the global economy more than $10 billion. That figure nearly doubles 2021 costs, and it’s only halfway through the year.”
Eurasianet: Armenia moves to restrict internet. “Armenia’s General Prosecutor has proposed a law allowing the state to block certain internet content, citing Russia as a positive example of how such a practice might work. In a July 4 letter addressed to the government, General Prosecutor Artur Davtyan suggested that the country should adopt legal regulations allowing the government to block material on the internet it deems harmful.”
FCC: Status Update: Mapping Where Broadband Is—and Is Not—Available in the U.S.. “For as long as people have been talking about the digital divide, there have been complaints that we lack detailed maps to tell us exactly where broadband is—and is not—available…. Congress took up this challenge in March 2020 when it passed the Broadband DATA Act instructing the FCC to create a publicly accessible, data-based nationwide map of where fixed and mobile broadband is truly available throughout the United States…. Over the past 18 months, we’ve been doing that work and making a lot of progress. I wanted to give people a brief of the latest key developments.”
WIRED: Russia Is Taking Over Ukraine’s Internet. “WEB PAGES IN the city of Kherson in south Ukraine stopped loading on people’s devices at 2:43 pm on May 30. For the next 59 minutes, anyone connecting to the internet with KhersonTelecom, known locally as SkyNet, couldn’t call loved ones, find out the latest news, or upload images to Instagram. They were stuck in a communications blackout. When web pages started stuttering back to life at 3:42 pm, everything appeared to be normal. But behind the scenes everything had changed: Now all internet traffic was passing through a Russian provider and Vladimir Putin’s powerful online censorship machine.”
Route Fifty: Millions Still Lack Broadband Despite 5-year $44B Government Effort. “Despite tens of billions of dollars in funding and numerous efforts to improve internet availability across America, millions of Americans still lack broadband internet, according to a new audit from the Government Accountability Office. Released May 31, the audit posits reasons why the federal government’s broadband efforts haven’t been more successful.”
CFB Esquimalt Lookout Navy News: Electronics technician establishes digital library in the Congo. “The digital library employs [Nzolantima] Swasisa’s high-tech invention called Lokole – a tiny black box of computer components that harnesses free satellite internet signals available in Africa. It can provide web and email access within a 25-metre radius for 100 users. Swasisa notes only 18 per cent of Congo’s 90 million citizens have internet access.
Vox EU: Mobile internet access and the desire to emigrate. “The mobile internet has changed how people live, work, and exchange information. Fast broadband can boost household income and affect political awareness. This column examines how 3G mobile internet rollout affects people’s desire and plans to emigrate. Increases in 3G coverage raise individuals’ desire and plans to emigrate, especially for those who do not have networks abroad, while it negatively affects perceptions of relative financial wellbeing and trust in the government. Internet access may be boosting the desire to emigrate while reducing the costs of finding information on opportunities abroad.”
CNET: FCC Looks to Update Rural Broadband Subsidy Program. “The Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday [May 19] to begin a process to update a universal service subsidy program meant to get broadband to areas of the country that are the hardest and most expensive to reach. The agency is looking to increase the speed obligation for subsidy recipients to 100 megabits per second for downloads and 20 Mbps for uploads.”
UC San Diego: A quarter of world’s Internet users rely on infrastructure at high risk of attack. “About a quarter of the world’s Internet users live in countries that are more susceptible than previously thought to targeted attacks on their Internet infrastructure. Many of the at-risk countries are located in the Global South. That’s the conclusion of a sweeping, large-scale study conducted by computer scientists at the University of California San Diego. The researchers surveyed 75 countries.”
The Moscow Times: Google Disconnects From Russian Servers Boosting Local Internet Speeds. “Google has disconnected its services from Russian servers designed to boost internet speeds, the RBC news website reported Thursday. Google Global Cache (GGC) allows local providers to offer Google content, including YouTube videos, from their own networks, lowering waiting times for customers. Without GGC, Russian users would experience slower access to Google content directly from the U.S. giant’s servers.”
