In this article in StateScoop editor Colin Wood reached out to ILSR’s Christopher Mitchell to discuss the lack of broadband availability in North Carolina and the digital divide between rural and urban areas.… Read More
Usually, we ignore the misinformation released by the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) but their latest efforts are so shady, we felt it was our responsibility to shine a light on its lack of validity and the organization’s credibility. Our report, Correcting Community Fiber Fallacies: Taxpayers Protection Alliance Edition, takes a deeper look at the TAP’s most recent attempt, which is filled with errors and a blatant disregard for the truth.… Read More
After tentative plans to work with a private sector partner fell through, Fort Collins is still moving forward. The city wants the option to provide residents and businesses with gigabit connectivity as a municipal service, necessitating a ballot initiative in November to change the city charter. The ballot initiative would allow the Light and Power Utility to provide … Read More
This is episode 254 of our Community Broadband Bits podcast! Community Broadband Bits is a short weekly audio show featuring interviews with people building community networks or otherwise involved with Internet policy. Some time ago, when speaking with Joshua Breitbart, the Senior Advisor for Broadband to the New York City CTO Miguel Gamiño, he mentioned to me … Read More
After long deliberation, utility board members in Traverse City have taken a firm step toward Internet infrastructure in order to improve connectivity in Michigan’s “Cherry Capital of the World.” The board of Traverse City Light & Power (TCL&P) voted unanimously to adjust their six-year capital improvement plan to include the cost of a citywide fiber network. … Read More
Preemption at the state and federal level threatens local telecommunications authority, as we’ve seen in about 20 states. When state laws usurp local governments’ ability to decide how they improve poor connectivity, they disregard an understanding of local affairs that is unique to each community. Some states are threatening to take preemption another damaging step farther … Read More
This post was written by Kate Svitavsky, Community Broadband Networks initiative intern. Kate is pursuing her Master’s in Public Policy at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs (University of Minnesota). Winter Park is considering creating an institutional network (I-Net) to provide gigabit connectivity to municipal facilities. Community leaders are examining the pros and cons of deploying … Read More
Seattle is the latest local government taking steps to protect citizens’ data. As of May 24th, companies with franchise agreements allowing them to operate in the city must obtain customer permission to sell personal data or browsing histories. The three companies operating in Seattle are Comcast, CenturyLink and Wave Broadband. Opting In vs. Opting Out In … Read More
This piece for TechDirt has Karl Bode citing our Community Networks Map in his piece on a terrible, telecom-sponsored bill in the state of Maine.… Read More
