Fast Company, February 20, 2015 Comcast, Verizon, AT&T: Watch out. In order to increase competition and expand high-speed Internet access to areas without, the Federal Communications Commission is set to vote next week to support the rights of cities to create their own fiber networks. Hundreds of communities have already built their own public broadband infrastructure in … Read More
On January 14th, President Obama visited Cedar Falls, Iowa, to share his strategy to expand high-speed connectivity to more Americans, encourage competition, and galvanize economic development. Obama’s plan centers around community networks and he announced that the next step will be eliminating barriers in 19 states that usurp local authority to invest in publicly owned infrastructure. … Read More
When we started to hear rumors that the White House was investigating community owned networks, we were excited but not sure what to expect. I have to admit that seeing President Obama – the President of the United States – saying that Cedar Falls was smart to invest in themselves was much more powerful than I … Read More
Sierra Club – Nov/Dec 2014 One of the things that makes greenwashing possible is the structure of the American media. Reporters have an instinctive affection for the unexpected or counterintuitive, so when the press release from Walmart arrives pledging to shift to 100 percent renewable energy and touting the solar panels on the roofs of some … Read More
“The FCC should be extremely wary of any arguments that claim paid prioritization or other discriminatory practices are necessary to increase investment in next-generation networks.” — ILSR, July 18, 2014 For months the FCC has considered comments from the public as it examines network neutrality. There have been more than 3 million submissions; a vast majority … Read More
“Can distributed, community-scale composting be the predominant approach to solving the food waste problem?” It was the question of the day at the second annual Cultivating Community Composting 2014 national forum hosted by BioCycle Magazine and ILSR.… Read More
Governing Magazine, November 5, 2014 North Dakota’s independent pharmacists have again beaten back an effort by Walmart and other chain stores to operate pharmacies in the state — and it wasn’t even close. About 60 percent of voters said “no” to a measure that would have repealed a 1963 law restricting ownership of pharmacies to pharmacists … Read More
The Boston Globe, November 2, 2014 BOSTON – Boston is teaming up with more than two dozen other cities across the country to tackle one of the most complex infrastructure questions of the century: how to ensure the next-generation Internet connectivity that will be crucial for civic success. “Where we stand today does not represent a network that … Read More
This week in democratic energy, ILSR received considerable coverage in several publications. Media reports also discussed the future of utilities, the Energy Department’s significant investment in solar, and a new study examining how peer influence affects who installs solar. John Farrell, Director of ILSR’s Democratic Energy initiative, was cited in multiple articles. In Yes! Magazine, Kayla … Read More
