FCC

FCC Pushing for Fee Increase for 2025 Budget 

By Jason Lee This week, the FCC publishes its 2025 budget estimates for its funding from Congress. In its budget breakdown, the FCC plans to have a base increase of $30,000,000 in 2025. This is a massive increase over the Commission’s $2,450,000 base increase in fiscal year…

Wi-Fi on School Buses is a Horrible Idea 

By Jason Lee In July 2023, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel was pushing the idea of installing Wi-Fi on school buses using E-Rate funding during a speech at the American Library Association. This was in spite of the fact that E-Rate funding…

FCC Makes it Harder for Small Businesses to Find Customers 

By James Erwin I remember well when I first needed to purchase car insurance for a vehicle I had bought off my father. After reviewing plans on a comparison website and selecting one I wanted to investigate further, I entered my phone number and consented to their proactive outreach, expecting…

What’s the Problem with Usage-Based Billing?

By James Erwin Usage-based billing, or UBB for short, is common practice across most industries. You get billed for the amount of electricity you use at home, the amount of gas burned to heat your apartment, and even the number of hours a lawyer works for you. The broadband industry…

Net Neutrality May Have Slowed Down the Internet

Amid much hue and cry, apocalyptic predictions, and advocacy from “comedian” John Oliver’s HBO show, the FCC revoked the Open Internet Order in 2017 (effective 2018). Widely promoted as “Net Neutrality,” the policy had been adopted by the FCC in 2014 after public pressure by then-President Obama,…

At FCC, Commissioner Geoffrey Starks Works Well Across The Aisle – But Will It Last?

Last month, President Biden nominated Anna Gomez for the vacant fifth seat on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and renominated current commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks for another term. Digital Liberty previously covered Brendan Carr’s achievements as the senior Republican commissioner, including his successful bipartisan work at the…

At FCC, Commissioner Brendan Carr Proves That Bipartisanship Still Works

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore, Flickr PRO Yesterday, President Biden announced his slate of nominees to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks were renominated for another term, and newcomer Anna Gomez was nominated for the fifth seat that has been vacant since former Chairman…

Canadian Government Imposes Restrictive Television Speech Rules on the Internet

The Canadian government took a dramatic step to restrict the free speech rights of online streaming platforms by passing the Online Streaming Act, popularly known by our neighbors to the north as Bill C-11. This bill places most online content creators under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications…

Spectrum is More Important than Middle Mile

By James Erwin It has been 30 years since Congress granted the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) the authority to auction radiofrequency spectrum for commercial use, and Congress has carelessly allowed auction authority to lapse. Making matters worse, Congress’s failure to reach an agreement is due to the Department of Defense’s…