Federal delays are holding up $21 billion for rural internet projects, as states wait for guidance

State officials can’t spend billions in federal funding to connect remote areas to the internet until the Trump administration provides information on how to use the money. Broadband offices are hopeful guidance is on the way – but when remains unclear...

 https://www.kcur.org/environment-agriculture/2026-09-01/federal-delays-billions-funding-rural-internet-projects-bead-guidance

 

You Pay for Internet Service in Empty Buildings on Alaska’s Adak Island — ProPublica

U.S. phone customers pay more than $340,000 a year for an Anchorage company to keep homes and buildings on Alaska’s Adak Island wired for obsolete internet service. All but a few of them sit empty...

 https://www.propublica.org/article/adak-island-alaska-internet-subsidy-fcc

No internet, no screen time? FCC weighs cutting subsidy that lowers school internet bills

"In rural Alaska, we don't have numerous options," says Patrick Mayer, superintendent for the remote Alaska Gateway School District. "We have one provider." 

 His district, where some students rely on planes to get to school in the winter months, has just under 400 students. Still, the district spends more than half a million dollars per year to ensure it has internet access at its six schools. The price tag is high, but the connection is what allows them to keep up with the rest of the world. 

 "It means the difference between having a school in the 21st century," Mayer says, "or a school in the 20th century."…

 https://www.npr.org/2026/07/10/nx-s1-5878405/fcc-erate-schools-internet-discount

Russians enraged by plans to cut mobile internet on New Year’s Eve - The Washington Post

"Thank you, Big Brother! Finally, someone has decided what I should watch. Otherwise, I would have chosen for myself, like a fool," one reader posted on the Telegram channel of Astra, an independent news site. "Next year, we are looking forward to a power outage so that we can take a break from the harmful light of electric bulbs and sit by candlelight, like in the good old days."…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/12/31/russia-mobile-internet-blackout-moscow/

How to use internet service ‘nutrition labels’ to avoid surprise bills - The Washington Post

Maybe you're thinking, aren't the prices and service quality obvious and easy to compare? Hahahaha...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/11/04/internet-nutrition-labels-price-comparison/

Supreme Court gives Trump a wave of victories in final week : NPR

The Supreme Court term has given the Trump administration a series of major wins in the final blockbuster week of its term. We rounded up the final decisions in one place, with more information and links to read the full decisions and our full coverage...

https://www.npr.org/2025/06/27/g-s1-74738/scotus-decisions-birthright-aca 

 

Internet users advised to change passwords after 16bn logins exposed

Hacked credentials could give cybercriminals access to Facebook, Meta and Google accounts among others…

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jun/21/internet-users-advised-to-change-passwords-after-16bn-logins-exposed

 

Recent US political violence aided by DIY murder tradecraft available on internet

People locators, 3D weapon blueprints, tactical planning – all accessible on the web for potential attackers or terrorists…

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jun/21/political-violence-online-murder-tradecraft

 

Trump administration poised to ‘strand rural America with worse internet’ to help Musk, official warns

Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, has said he wants to re-evaluate the Bead program and make it technology "neutral". That change is likely to favor Musk's company, Starlink, which owns about 62% of all operating satellites. It would be far less expensive for communities to be connected to high speed internet service through satellites, but most experts agree the service would not be as fast or reliable as fiber, and would cost consumers more...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/17/trump-musk-starlink-rural-internet

 

The Online Porn Free-for-All Is Coming to an End - The Atlantic

Three decades into the internet era, the Supreme Court finally appears ready to uphold age-verification laws...

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/01/supreme-court-online-pornography/681397/ 

 

Musk could use the ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ for self-enrichment

Musk could use the 'Department of Government Efficiency' for self-enrichment

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/nov/30/elon-musk-government-efficiency-self-enrichment

Neo-Nazi group the Base finds a safe space to recruit Americans: the Russian internet

The video, meant to entice Americans to join its ranks, isn't on YouTube or even a social media site most people know. Instead, it's being hosted on Rutube, a Russian-government-sponsored knockoff...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/28/neo-nazi-the-base-recruitment-russia

10 Common Internet Scams and How To Avoid Them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDhAOvsyw2s

Did you know about this Internet trick?

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/y1Bgktoxxq8

N.S.A. Buys Americans’ Internet Data Without Warrants, Letter Says - The New York Times

In a letter to the director of national intelligence dated Thursday, the senator, Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, argued that "internet metadata" — logs showing when two computers have communicated, but not the content of any message — "can be equally sensitive" as the location data the F.T.C. is targeting. 

He urged intelligence agencies to stop buying internet data about Americans if it was not collected under the standard the F.T.C. has laid out for location records. 

"The U.S. government should not be funding and legitimizing a shady industry whose flagrant violations of Americans' privacy are not just unethical, but illegal," Mr. Wyden wrote…

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/25/us/politics/nsa-internet-privacy-warrant.html

WATCH: Biden touts new economic opportunity in rural America during Minnesota visit | PBS NewsHour

The president announced more than $5 billion in spending, largely in rural areas. It will go toward better adapting agriculture to climate change, as well as expanding high-speed internet access and improving local infrastructure. The funding comes from infrastructure and inflation reduction laws which Biden helped champion through Congress. 

"Instead of exporting jobs overseas for cheaper labor, now we're creating jobs here and expanding American products and selling them overseas," Biden told a cheering crowd inside a barn at Dutch Creek Farms in Northfield, about 40 miles south of Minneapolis. "We're not only transforming rural communities, we're transforming our economy."…

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-biden-touts-new-economic-opportunity-in-rural-america-during-minnesota-visit

F.C.C. Moves Toward Restoring Net Neutrality Rules, Igniting Regulatory Fight - The New York Times

The move will ultimately enable the agency to categorize high-speed internet as a utility, like water or electricity. That is a major step toward modernizing the agency's objectives, especially as consumers increasingly depend on the internet as their main source for communications. The agency will then be able to police broadband providers for net neutrality violations, consumer harm and security lapses. 

 "Now is the time for our rules of the road for internet service providers to reflect the reality that internet access is a necessity for daily life," Jessica Rosenworcel, the chair of the F.C.C., said in a statement...

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/19/technology/fcc-net-neutrality-vote.html

Elon Musk cut Starlink in middle of Ukraine attack on Russia fleet - The Washington Post

New details of the previously reported incident underscore how critical SpaceX has become to the U.S. government…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/09/07/ukraine-starlink-musk-biography/

Ronan Farrow's new report alleges 'set of warnings about Elon Musk’ some around him are sounding

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXfzU6tS-b4 

Michigan set to receive $1.5B from feds for high-speed internet

Michigan U.S. Sens. Gary Peters of Bloomfield Township and Debbie Stabenow of Lansing, both Democrats, praised the funding in Monday statements. 

Peters said the funding will "make a big difference for families, workers, students and small businesses, including to those who currently lack access, and is important to economic opportunity and competitiveness."

Stabenow said the internet is "an essential service" needed for work, school and more. "This new infrastructure will allow for telemedicine, remote learning, and other services families and businesses rely on in Michigan," she added…

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2023/06/26/michigan-set-to-receive-1-5b-billion-from-feds-for-high-speed-internet-biden-landrieu/70357833007/