skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Report: Community Internet Better for Protecting Privacy

play audio
Play

Monday, April 16, 2018   

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As Congress considers remedies for large-scale privacy breaches by Cambridge Analytica and Facebook, a recent report suggests that local municipalities could play a key role in protecting consumers.

The American Civil Liberties Union study said if cities and counties build out their own broadband networks, they could ensure privacy protections and keep the internet open for all residents who depend on access for health care, employment and other essential services. Jay Stanley is the report's lead author.

"The internet's really become a necessity in our lives, like water and electricity,” Stanley said. “And if you don't have control over your internet because some far-away company is giving you bad service and it's the only choice, that's a big problem - not only for you personally, but it's a failure of democracy."

Last year, Congress repealed privacy regulations prohibiting internet providers, such as Verizon and Comcast, from selling users' data without their consent. The Federal Communications Commission also repealed so-called net neutrality regulations that prohibits companies from creating slow lanes for specific content.

Critics of municipal broadband say it would create an uneven playing field for industry because cities already own the land needed to lay fiber, and they cite the high costs of building systems from scratch. More than 20 state legislatures have passed bills backed by telecom groups restricting or banning municipal broadband.

Stanley admitted creating a network is a big commitment. But he said his research shows that hundreds of counties, cities and towns across the U.S. have already found the investment has paid off with faster service and lower rates.

"They can do it the same way that cities do with sewer systems and electric systems, and with sidewalks and roads,” he said. “And cities know how to do long-term infrastructure investments, they know how to finance them, and they know how to build them."

Stanley added local governments, charged with serving all residents, are also in a better position to connect traditionally under-served rural areas, low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. By one measure, half of rural West Virginians have poor access to broadband, largely because those areas are seen as unprofitable by corporate providers.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021