Digital Bill of Rights - May 2016

Senate Democrats could seek to reverse the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) “Restoring Internet Freedom Order” by Monday. While their attempt has no chance of passing the Republican-controlled House or avoiding a President Trump veto, the move panders to severely misinformed activists.

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order was a win for consumers. Heavy-handed common carrier regulations stifled internet investment, draining billions from future innovations like 5G service.

The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) will be marked up in committee tomorrow, and if passed, the bill would badly damage Internet innovation. To avoid substantial unintended consequences, Senators should consider adding language to SESTA in order to protect innocent websites.

Breaking news flashed across the country when the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari for United States v Microsoft on October 16th. The court’s pending decision will resolve divided lower court rulings on a fundamental privacy dispute.

Senators should be commended for their derring-do to fight vile human trafficking abuses. But their current solution, the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, dubbed “SESTA,” would curb Internet innovation.

The Internet as we know it is in jeopardy, thanks to Congress. Legislators on both sides of the aisle are threatening to rewire the Internet by imposing innovation-stifling regulations on online providers under the guise of a noble cause: curbing sex trafficking.

Over 250 years ago, courageous colonists took up arms and defended the right against unlawful search and seizure in the American Revolution. Fueled by outrageous searches by British law enforcement, our founding fathers enshrined within our constitution the Fourth Amendment, which reads, in part: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.”

Amazon and other corporate friends will spend Wednesday, July 12th, protesting FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s impending net neutrality repeal through a “Day of Action.” The precise “action” is unknown, but one thing is certain. They’ll be begging for more corporate welfare.

As technology continues to digitize our daily lives, the urban-rural divide in Internet usage reaps public attention. Despite a decade of improvements between 2007 and 2017, including the near doubling of rural broadband usage from 35% to 63%, rural Americans are still 10% less likely than average to use the Internet. Much of this is attributable to low population density, which makes rural towns less appealing to Internet service providers (ISPs) than customer-packed urban centers. Broadband cable installation over the bare Midwestern and mountainous western expanses is expensive and inefficient. The cable infrastructure for some rural areas is simply too costly.

Over the past several decades cars have become increasingly high tech allowing for computers to take larger roles in the routine functions of the car. Computerized functions have been a boon to consumers, who gain greater reliability and efficiently, but it has also increased the vulnerability to criminal hacking.