A report the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) released in June found that access to fast and reliable home internet continues to increase in the Golden State, but many households eligible for broadband access assistance are still without service.
Ahead of the first day of oral arguments in the Supreme Court case Comcast Corp. V. National Association of African American-Owned Media (NAAOM),Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43) led her colleagues in introducing a resolution that affirms the vital role that the Civil Rights Act of 1866– particularly Section 1981 of the Act – has played in prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity when making and enforcing business contracts. Should Comcast Corporation, the plaintiffs in the case, prevail at the Supreme Court, it will be nearly impossible for entrepreneurs, innovators, and creators of color who have been victims of racial discrimination to bring forth lawsuits and have their rights protected and enforced in a court of law.
The FCC voted last December to repeal Obama-era protections and the net neutrality rules, approved by the same organization two years earlier, prohibited Internet service providers – such Comcast and Verizon – from speeding up or slowing down traffic from specific websites and apps.
The original goal of “net neutrality” was that internet service providers and governments would treat all data on the internet equally and not discriminate or charge differently based on the user, services, website, application, or device – in other words, it would provide an open internet.
Los Angeles is among the over 50 counties that are on track to receive high-speed internet for their rural areas in the near future.
Voices for Internet Freedom, a coalition of advocacy organizations, hosted a public forum in Skid Row for Federal Communications Commissioner (FCC) Mignon Clyburn, to discuss with constituents of low-income communities the impact of affordable phone and Internet access on their lives.