By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 10-29-21 While most of the new federal money for broadband – some $65 billion – is in the infrastructure bill whose fate is tied to President Joe Biden‘s $1.7 trillion-plus Build Back Better legislative package, that package also has more than $1 billion for various better broadband building programs. [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 10-28-21 In a move that is a big blow to some big tech companies, Congress has voted to ban new equipment licenses for Chinese telecoms Huawei, ZTE, and any other technology company the government concludes poses a national security threat, closing what one of the bill's sponsors called a [...]
By Daniel Frankel, Multichannel News, 10-28-21 On the same week that it was reported that Netflix tweaked its search algorithms a year ago to hide French film Cuties and quash a controversy surrounding the movie, it's now been revealed that Netflix has declared that its algorithms are protected by the First Amendment. Netflix is [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 10-26-21 The Federal Communications Commission has voted to revoke the authority of China Telecom Americas to provide telecommunications services between the U.S. and other countries. “The commission’s public-interest analysis finds that the present and future public interest, convenience, and necessity is no longer served by China Telecom Americas’ retention [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 10-26-21 Based on new documents from Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen (being dubbed “The Facebook Papers”), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), chair of the Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee, said it was just more evidence that the social media platform has “chronically ignored serious internal alarms.” Blumenthal has called on Facebook to [...]
Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in CoreCivic, Inc. v. Candide Group. This appeal arises from a defamation suit brought by CoreCivic, a private prison company, against Morgan Simon, a senior contributor at Forbes who also runs [...]
FOR RELEASE: October 26, 2021 Contact: Richard T. Kaplar The Media Institute 703-243-5700 Arlington, Va., October 26, 2021 – Media Institute President Richard T. Kaplar issued the following statement in response to President Joe Biden’s announcement that he intends to nominate Jessica Rosenworcel as Chair of the Federal Communications Commission and Gigi Sohn as an [...]
Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division, Second Department in VIP Pet Grooming Studio, Inc. v. Sproule. Robert Sproule wrote one-star Yelp and Google reviews of VIP, alleging the studio was responsible for his dog’s death. VIP sued Sproule and [...]
By Mike Farrell, Multichannel News, 10-22-21 The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Friday that it will make $1.15 billion in federal loans and grants available to expand high-speed Internet access in rural communities across the country through its ReConnect Program, part of President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda.... To be eligible for ReConnect Program [...]
FOR RELEASE: October 22, 2021 Contact: Richard T. Kaplar The Media Institute 703-243-5700 Arlington, Va., October 22, 2021 – Media Institute President Richard T. Kaplar issued the following statement in response to the announcement by NCTA executive Rob Stoddard that he plans to retire on Jan. 3, 2022: “Rob Stoddard will be sorely missed, not [...]