To Fix the Digital Divide, The Great Can’t Be the Enemy of the Good

Given all of its successes, reauthorizing the Affordable Connectivity Program should be a no-brainer.

The ACP put consumers in the driver’s seat by allowing recipients to choose the best provider for them. In that same vein, the program permitted a wide array of ISPs, even satellite providers, to participate in the program. In contrast, Lifeline only permits the few that can meet the FCC’s archaic and overly burdensome “Eligible Telecommunications Carrier” standard. 

But here’s the rub—the FCC, as of June 1, 2024, ran out of funds to keep the ACP going. This means that all of the gains we made in narrowing the digital divide can be effectively undone, leaving millions of low-income families and veterans in the lurch if they want to continue using the services. While some providers have agreed to handle the full financial burden, but they can only do that for so long before the monetary strain becomes untenable. 

Did TikTok Admit It Doesn’t Have First Amendment Rights?

2024 has been a big year for social media litigation. Social media companies have successfully leveraged the First Amendment and persuaded courts to vacate laws that seek to restrict their curation practices—even in the context of protecting kids.

But social media giant TikTok’s legal challenge to the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act might be poised to end that winning streak.

DPI Joins Coalition to Oppose Upending Unlicensed Use of the 900 MHz band

NextNav has filed a petition at the FCC asking the agency to turn over 15 megahertz of low-band unlicensed spectrum for its use for 5G. DPI joined Public Knowledge, New America’s Open Technology Institute, Consumer Reports, Next Century Cities, and SHLB to oppose the petition.

As those comments explain: “In contrast to the current ecosystem in which hundreds of millions of connected devices coexist—including both unlicensed and licensed LMS operations—NextNav would reorganize the band, reallocate 60 percent of the band to an entirely different service, assign to itself the exclusive rights to 15 megahertz of full power flexible use (mobile) spectrum, and condense all other incumbent users of the band (both licensed LMS and unlicensed devices) into the remaining 11 megahertz. NextNav expects the Commission to do all this on the premise (and mere promise) that it will use a tiny fraction of that bandwidth to provide a Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) service it has failed to deliver for more than two decades. NextNav’s Petition is unsupported and misconceived. the Commission must reject it.”

DPI Leads Coalition Letter re Alternative Broadband Technology in BEAD

DPI led a coalition letter to the NTIA arguing that the BEAD program should fully embrace technological neutrality in doling out broadband funding. As they wrote: “Moving forward with Alternative Technology guidance could be the lifeline needed for the BEAD Program to successfully fulfill its stated goals of increased connectivity across the nation. However, failure to develop coherent rules and procedures for Alternative Technology providers and the states will undermine its effectiveness. It is imperative for NTIA to get this guidance right to make sure taxpayer resources are used correctly to close the digital divide.”

The Foundation for American Innovation, the Consumer Choice Center, the American Principles Project, the Bull Moose Project, the R Street Institute, and Jeff Westling of the American Action Forum joined the letter.

Identifying the Next TikTok: Which Apps Could Be Next?

America finds itself locked in great power competition with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The digital age has reshaped this conflict in ways that make this second cold war categorically different from the first. The PRC has infiltrated numerous aspects of America’s communications networks. With the promise of cheap labor, Beijing stole American intellectual property. With the promise of cheap equipment, it took control of multiple U.S. routers, backhauls, cell sites, and mobile devices. With the promise of cheap laughs, it captured Americans’ attention and siphoned data.

The TikTok bill is bigger than TikTok. It could prove to be a useful tool to rid America’s networks of insidious malware. What follows is an outline of the Act’s substantive provisions, and an analysis on how the Act’s framework can apply to other Chinese-based applications posing similar national security issues as TikTok and ByteDance. Specific attention is given to WeChat and Temu.

State Regulation of Broadband Rates Widens the Digital Divide

DPI has filed an amicus brief supporting certiorari in the United States Supreme Court, urging the Court to resolve a split between the Second Circuit and the 8th and D.C. Circuits over whether Congress and the FCC can preempt state regulation of broadband rates with an affirmative choice of non-regulation. As the brief explains, “courts have repeatedly upheld FCC decisions to preempt state regulations of intrastate services that interfered with the federal scheme”–including non-common-carrier services like broadband.

Why is Apple Promoting Chinese Spyware?

China’s espionage campaign has infiltrated our communications networks via their telecom companies, like Huawei and ZTE, and by selling us cheap routers with noted-yet-unfixed vulnerabilities. But there is nothing more pervasive than how China weaponizes our mobile devices via apps.

TikTok is the obvious example. A nearly unanimous Congress heeded the warnings of the Director of National Intelligence and others to require TikTok to cut its financial ties with its parent company (and known-Chinese government corporate affiliate) ByteDance. The Department of Justice has sued the company for blatantly violating federal privacy laws, and states are investigating numerous other privacy violations. Yet Apple continues to promote the app, listing it as “essential” with an “editor’s choice” award.

And TikTok is just the tip of the iceberg…

Banning TikTok is Constitutional

The information wars are upon us, and our enemies are leveraging our reliance on technology to get the upper hand. Nowhere is this threat more apparent than concerning TikTok, the video sharing app controlled by ByteDance, which has ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In response to this threat and others from foreign adversaries, Congress passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (the “Act”) that would impose foreign ownership rules on mobile apps owned and controlled by the governments of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea that pose a national security threat. It also forces ByteDance to divest from TikTok or face a full ban in the United States.

Within weeks of its passage, TikTok sued the U.S. in the D.C. Circuit Court, alleging that the Act is unconstitutional, which is a strange posture.