Infrastructure law: High-speed internet is as essential as water and electricity by Hernán Galperin 11/19/2021
(Author Provided/)
The bill goes further by acknowledging that the “digital divide disproportionately affects communities of color, lower-income areas, and rural areas,” and orders the Federal Communications Commission to take action against discrimination of access based on income level, race, ethnicity, color, religion or national origin. This is an important recognition of the role that broadband access plays in perpetuating cycles of poverty and community underdevelopment.
Many studies, including my own, have documented how investments in fiber‐ optic lines and related next‐generation broadband infrastructure are going to more affluent communities, often bypassing low‐income residents in highly urbanized areas such as Los Angeles and Detroit. The bill not only empowers the FCC to monitor and correct such practices, but also helps align private investment incentives with public benefits by creating the Affordable Connectivity Fund, a permanent broadband subsidy for low‐income households.
The act provides $65 billion in new funding for expanding broadband infrastructure and promoting adoption. The largest of the law's many components is the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, which goes to the states to administer as block grants to expand broadband networks. The second‐largest piece is the $14.2 billion Affordable Connectivity Fund, which subsidizes eligible households with $30 per month for internet access.
Six out of ten world's best cities to relocate to are in USA by Harry Johnson, eTN, 11/19/21
(ICRC/)
Austin, Texas is named the number one place to relocate to, with Charleston and Los Angeles also ranking in the top five.
The study analyzed factors that are often taken into consideration when deciding where to relocate to, including house prices, living costs, average salary, weather conditions, number of restaurants and green spaces, internet speed and life expectancy.
The best city in the world to relocate to is Austin, TX, USA. Austin has the third-best internet speed of any city in the rankings, at 87.5 Mbps. Additionally, the city scores highly in terms of average temperature (20.4°C), and high average monthly salaries at $5,350.
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Emergency Broadband Benefit from FCC
British Empire's oldest colony Barbados decolonized after nearly 400 years by Juergen T Steinmetz, eTN, 11/30/21
(eTN/)
The monarch has been its head of state for almost 400 years, despite the island having secured its independence from the UK in 1966. Mason launched a campaign in 2020 to make Barbados a republic, declaring that “Barbadians want a Barbadian head of state.”
Barbados is a tourism and cultural paradise, and this change will certainly emerge into an important step of history for the travel and tourism industry.
“Having attained independence over half a century ago, our country can be in no doubt about its capacity for self‐governance. The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind,” Mason said in September, in defense of the campaign.
Digital equity goals are key to smart cities by Gregory Porumbescu for the Conversation, 11/23/2021
(UN News/)
As a researcher who studies public‐ sector technology and policy, I believe this makes expanding broadband access in underserved communities a critical piece of the new infrastructure act and an important step toward realizing President Biden's goal of using this infrastructure legislation to advance social equity. There are two reasons for this.
The first is that the digital infrastructure that makes widespread data collection and analysis possible, such as broadband internet, tends to underperform in less affluent communities. For example, a 2019 study by Microsoft shows that 162.8 million people in the U.S. were unable to access internet at broadband speeds.
Human Trafficking as Denial of Individual autonomy
UN News
Sex trafficking, a subcategory of human trafficking, involves the exploitation of people in the commercial sex industry (i.e., prostitution marketplaces) where victims are expected to provide commercial sex acts on demand. Because a person has no meaningful right to refuse sex in the context of sex trafficking, the principle nature of their exploitation is that of rape and the abrogation of their individual autonomy. National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE)
When is Earth Day?
UN News
“International Mother Earth Day, April 22nd, is a glorious date for the inhabitants of our Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as for the entire planet. ”
Costa Rican Vice President Epsy Campbell