WATERTOWN, N.Y. - Without broadband Internet access, rural communities will be economically hobbled, warns a new report. However, portions of rural New York are making progress toward better high-speed access, with the help of federal stimulus money.

The report by the Center for Rural Strategies, a rural media watchdog group, points out that the Internet is the new norm for communication, both in business and social life. Without fast connectivity, rural businesses are at a distinct disadvantage to their competitors.

James Wright, executive director of the Development Authority of the North Country, agrees. He says far-flung parts of rural New York - and much of America - are very underserved.

"The general description is accurate, which is why you have a federal initiative to extend broadband."

Nearly $40 million in stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act have enabled the Authority to begin an expansion of some 550 miles of fiber-optic lines into communities between the St. Lawrence River and Adirondack Park.

Public dollars - at the state and federal level - will help bring high-speed Internet access to the nation's interior, Wright says.

"Our economy and the future economy are going to be dependent upon connections to the global economy. That means having reliable, fast access to global communications, and that's what broadband brings to the region."

The Center for Rural Strategies report concludes that having access to broadband is "simply treading water or keeping up. Not having it means sinking."

Dr. Sharon Strover of the University of Texas, who compiled the report, points out that a company with narrow Internet bandwidth will have difficulty doing even basic daily business functions.

"If you've ever tried to pull up a graphic image on a dial-up connection, you are waiting, conventionally, for a really long time. That means that, in order to do something as simple as ordering a part, you're at a huge disadvantage without broadband."

Strover sees some encouraging signs for rural dwellers still awaiting fast Internet connections, however.

"I believe that the FCC and other federal agencies are taking this far more seriously than they ever did. The money that the stimulus funding pumped into broadband should help."

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to report this year - as it did last year - that broadband providers are not expanding their services in a timely and satisfactory fashion.

The report is online at www.ruralstrategies.org.



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O.J. Simpson's death has the nation looking back on the infamous murder trial that resulted in his acquittal. Experts say one of the lasting impacts is news coverage and how people consume it.

The lengthy trial proceedings from the mid-1990s were televised, setting a pathway for cameras in the courtroom.

Jane Kirtley, a professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota's Hubbard School of Journalism, said it also ushered in a cottage industry of pundits brought in to analyze the events of each day. That made it easier for people to get a recap during a 24-hour news cycle, but she added that there was a drawback to getting so much information through analysis.

"It also meant that people could suspend their critical thinking, to a certain extent," she said, "and I believe we're still seeing that today. The rise of social media has only made it easier."

However, she said it did expose issues with how criminal cases are handled, and viewers were able to see it firsthand. Given how the accessibility of information has exploded since the trial, Kirtley said, news consumers can't lose sight of the need to examine where they're getting it from. That includes whether the source is producing the news themselves, and if the details are being vetted.

Tessa Jolls, president and CEO of the Center for Media Literacy, said the trial firmly established entertainment as a core element of news coverage, making it profitable. She said outlets still have to reel people in with this approach to survive in a challenging landscape, but added that a sensationalized case such as this one sometimes helps with engagement in a positive way.

"They were seeing what the news organizations chose to show, and that gave people a chance to talk to each other and compare notes," she said. "In that sense, I think people probably did become savvier."

The trial also touched on racial issues and domestic violence, and Jolls said it was natural for people to have strong emotions about the developments. But she noted that it serves as a reminder for audiences to not let their gut feelings cloud how they weigh the facts presented to them.

"We need to see that our emotions are definitely present and that they may be swaying our thinking," she said, "and so, it's important to ask questions, to be skeptical."


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Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos.

The Innovation and Technology Committee is planning to vote on the Taylor Swift Act, a bill aiming to make it illegal to publish or threaten to publish AI-generated sexually explicit images of people.

Rep. Adam Schwadron, R-St. Charles, authored the bill and said it is important to be proactive in protecting ordinary citizens.

"They were able to take it down for her," Schwadron acknowledged. "However, common Missourians would not have the same protections afforded to her. Not everyone is Taylor Swift."

The bill would allow victims of the fake image attacks to sue the creator in civil court and recover the offending images. Rep. Bridgette Walsh, D-St. Louis, also supports the bill and said it is necessary in this day and age, given how easy videos and images are to access and create.

Schwadron noted while they will need to learn how to track items originating from the dark web, he is optimistic the legislation will cover most common offenses.

"The cases that we are seeing across the country of classmates that are being attacked by other classmates of theirs that is creating these images and it's affecting young girls and even boys and those are a lot easier to track when they're being shared from phone to phone," Schwadron explained.

Schwadron added the name "Taylor Swift Act" was fitting due to her ties with the state of Missouri and her recent ordeal with explicit deepfakes.


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Experts are saying social media algorithms are radicalizing users and increasing extremism in Arizona and around the country ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Michael Chertoff, a member of the National Council on Election Integrity, said better protecting data privacy could make the algorithms less destructive, without infringing on free speech.

"I do think we could regulate access to data, uses of data and the application of algorithms to that data without offending the First Amendment," Chertoff contended.

Chertoff pointed out data is one of the most critical ingredients in building algorithms using artificial intelligence. He argued data collection by Big Tech companies should be better regulated, as it is used to send specifically targeted and polarizing messages to consumers. A large majority of Americans said they have little to no trust in companies to use AI responsibly, according to the Pew Research Center.

Farah Pandith, senior adviser for the Anti-Defamation League, noted extremism and radicalization are not decreasing. She suggested the first step to improve the situation is by having government and nongovernment stakeholders acknowledge the severity of the situation and to start having more conversations, which she contended is not happening at the scale it needs to be.

"You're not seeing the commitment as a priority area," Pandith stressed. "That shows up in the funding that is required for NGOs that are doing the first responses to all of this that come up with the creative ways. It doesn't show up in the way in which we can scale solutions that we know."

Pandith added solutions are available and called on social media platforms to assume more responsibility for the inciteful content they display.


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