Internet access

China Cut Off Internet in Area of Tibetan Unrest

Stevie Converse — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 08:11:58 -0500

Full article: Guardian
Tania Branigan
Chinese officials cut off mobile phone and Internet connections to areas where Tibetans were shot dead amid unrest last month, state media has reported. Foreign reporters attempting to visit the region have been turned back, with officials blaming bad weather and the state of the roads.

Want Rural 21st Century Broadband? Form a Co-Op or Wait Indefinitely for Someone Else to Provide It

Stevie Converse — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:08:10 -0500

Full article: Stop the Cap!
Phillip Dampier
Parts of rural Minnesota are teaching the nation a lesson or two about how to deliver rural broadband -- form a community co-op and provide it yourself, or wait forever for a commercial provider to deem it sufficiently profitable to deliver a reasonable level of service.

Examining the Broadband Divide in D.C.

Stevie Converse — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 08:47:33 -0400

Full article: WAMU.org
A new study from American University's Investigative Reporting Workshop suggests that the broadband Internet divide in our region isn't a matter of access, but instead a matter of adoption. And the single biggest characteristic of the areas where broadband Internet subscriptions were low was income level.

Media Minutes: June 10, 2011

Candace Clement — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 17:25:49 -0400

Verizon disabled tethering applications in the Android market but offers its own service for a hefty fee. Free Press is calling for an investigation to see if Verizon has violated open Internet rules for its mobile broadband network. And the United Nations has declared that Internet access is a basic human right.

Broadband or Bust? Pike Place Market Meets the Information Superhighway

Stevie Converse — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 10:31:51 -0400

Full article: Broadband Breakfast
Angela Wu
A survey of 77 vendors in Seattle's Pike Place Market reveals that small metropolitan businesses appear to be as much on the wrong side of the digital divide as rural businesses are. In addition to affordable broadband, business owners need affordable and reliable resources to create and manage Internet, website and social media opportunities.

Broadband Accessibility, Affordability and Adoption

Stevie Converse — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 09:42:31 -0400

Full article: FCC
Speaking at the Internet2 Spring Member Meeting, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn focused on the interrelation between accessibility, affordability and adoption. "Without access to affordable IP-based broadband service, the most challenged communities will fail to enjoy the significant opportunities that broadband service access has offer," Clyburn said.

AT&T-T-Mobile Merger Hurts Poor

Stevie Converse — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 10:41:56 -0400

Full article: Politico
Malkia Cyril
The FCC and Justice Department must analyze more than the effect the AT&T-T-Mobile merger could have on the nameless market; they must give serious consideration to the people who could be most affected. Low-income families and communities of color rely heavily on their mobile phones to connect to the Internet – a lifeline increasingly critical in today’s world. Higher rates could have devastating consequences.

Why You Won't Care that the Net Isn't Neutral

Stevie Converse — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 09:19:42 -0400

Full article: Joho the Blog
David Weinberger
It's very simple. Once we have lost Net Neutrality and the access providers are given a free hand to charge Internet companies for delivering their bits faster and more reliably than their competitors' bits, we will experience this simply as how the Internet works, not as an artificial constraint put in to benefit the access providers. So, what's the problem?

Obama Highlights $90 Million Ed-Tech Agency

Stevie Converse — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 08:48:59 -0500

Full article: eSchool News
Educational technology advocates applauded President Obama’s focus on college and career readiness and his call for a new federal agency devoted to ed-tech innovations.

Media Minutes: February 4, 2011

Candace Clement — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 17:54:00 -0500

Could the United States be plunged into digital darkness? A new bill is being prepared in the Senate that could give the executive branch the power to flip an Internet kill switch. And Internet service provider Frontier is fighting the fiber-to-the-home broadband plan of two small towns in rural Minnesota.