#internet access

[political-us]

[soapdispensersalesman]

[emotional-moss]

i'm curious, tell me why in the tags

i guess unrestricted internet access to me means zero safeguards around mature, sensitive, or otherwise inappropriate content, no parents monitoring or checking on what you're doing on there, no device controls, etc etc etc

[destielmemenews]

"Dozens of people joined Biden administration officials, advocates and U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, a Democrat from Vermont, at a Washington public library on Tuesday to make a last-ditch plea to extend the Affordable Connectivity Program, a subsidy created by Congress and touted by President Joe Biden as part of his push to bring internet access to every U.S. household. The program, which is set to expire at the end of May, helps people with limited means pay their broadband bills.

“They need access to high-speed internet just like they need access to electricity,” Sen. Welch told the gathering. “This is what is required in a modern economy.”"

source 1

source 2

source 3

[watermelllonarchive]

Abd El Rahman, a dental student in Gaza, shows his commute to get reception for his eSim.

To be able to upload videos, such as this one, he must travel to higher elevations to be able to get signal.

Abdelrahman is on Instagram @ abdelrahman.rizqa and his Go Fund Me can be found here.

Available Go Fund Me campaigns for people whose stories have been shared on watermelllonarchive can be found in the resources post.

[wherepond]

Trump & Musk

Canada fights back against Trump & Musk

Ontario has banned American companies from government contracts & cancelled a $100 MILLION (Candadian dollar) deal with Elon Musk's company Starlink to provide high-speed Internet access to Canadians in Canada's biggest province.

[wayfire-official]

Monday I'll finally (hopefully) get my own internet access and I plan on celebrating by downloading the entirety of Wikipedia. I don't have enough disk space tho, so I'll just put it into /dev/null

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Judd Legum at Popular Information:

In 2024, reliable access to high-speed internet is no longer a luxury; it is a basic necessity. From job applications to managing personal finances and completing school work, internet access is an essential part of daily life. Without an internet connection, individuals are effectively cut off from basic societal activities. 

But the reality is that many people — particularly those living around the poverty line — can not afford internet access. Without internet access, the difficult task of working your way from the American economy's bottom rung becomes virtually impossible.   On November 21, 2021, President Biden signed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The new law included the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which provided up to $30 per month to individuals or families with income up to 200% of the federal poverty line to help pay for high-speed internet. (For a family of four, the poverty line is currently $31,200.) On Tribal lands, where internet access is generally more expensive, the ACP offers subsidies up to $75 per month.  The concept started during the Trump administration. The last budget enacted by Trump included $3.2 billion to help families afford internet access. The FCC made the money available as a subsidy to low-income individuals and families through a program known as the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program. The legislation signed by Biden extended and formalized the program.  It has been a smashing success.

Today, the ACP is "helping 23 million households – 1 in 6 households across America." The program has particularly benefited "rural communities, veterans, and older Americans where the lack of affordable, reliable high-speed internet contributes to significant economic, health and other disparities." According to an FCC survey, two-thirds of beneficiaries "reported they had inconsistent internet service or no internet service at all prior to ACP." These households report using their high-speed internet to "schedule or attend healthcare appointments (72%), apply for jobs or complete work (48%), do schoolwork (75% for ACP subscribers 18-24 years old)." Tomorrow, the program will abruptly end.  In October 2023, the White House sent a supplemental budget request to Congress, which included $6 billion to extend the program through the end of 2024. There is also a bipartisan bill, the Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act, which would extend the program with $7 billion in funding. The benefits of the program have shown to be far greater than the costs. An academic study published in February 2024 found that "for every dollar spent on the ACP, the nation’s GDP increases by $3.89." The program will lapse tomorrow because Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) refuses to bring either the bill (or the supplemental funding request) to a vote. The Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act has 225 co-sponsors which means that, if Johnson held a vote, it would pass. 

[...]

The Republican attack on affordable internet

Why will Johnson not even allow a vote to extend the ACP? He is not commenting. But there are hints in the federal budget produced by the Republican Study Committee (RSC). The RSC is the "conservative caucus" of the House GOP, and counts 179 of the 217 Republicans in the House as members. Johnson served as the chair of the RSC in 2019 and 2020. He is currently a member of the group's executive committee.  The RSC's latest budget says it "stands against" the ACP and labels it a "government handout[] that disincentivize[s] prosperity." The RSC claims the program is unnecessary because "80 percent" of beneficiaries had internet access before the program went into effect. For that statistic, the RSC cites a report from a right-wing think tank, the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC), which opposes the ACP. EPIC, in turn, cites an FCC survey to support its contention that 80% of ACP beneficiaries already had internet access. The survey actually found that "over two-thirds of survey respondents (68%) reported they had inconsistent internet service or no internet service at all prior to ACP."

[...] The RSC also falsely claims that funding for the precursor to the ACP, the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program (EBB), "was signed into law at the end of President Biden’s first year in office." This is false. Former President Trump signed the funding into law in December 2020. The RSC's position is not popular. A December 2023 poll found that 79% of voters support "continuing the ACP, including 62% of Republicans, 78% of Independents, and 96% of Democrats."

In 2024, access to the internet is a necessity and not just a luxury, and the Republicans are set to end the Affordable Connectivity Program if no action is taken. The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) provided subsidies to low-income people and families to obtain internet access.

[magicalblerdpenn]

Hey y'all. If you're based in the United States, please call your Congressional reps and ask them to approve this bill funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program. It helps low income households like mine get a discount on their internet bill. As a freelance writer who works from home while being a family caregiver, this has helped me save money. Without this funding, the Affordable Connectivity Program will end in April.

[ms2253]

[use] bypass paywalls clean for chrome | github

"Extension allows you to read articles from (supported) sites that implement a paywall. You can also add a domain as custom site and try to bypass the paywall. Weekly updates are released for fixes and new sites."

[your-average-mess-on-all-fronts]

I really do think there are more children who had their lives destroyed by being given internet access in an age where their brains weren't capable of handling that than there are children who were saved from an abusive environment through the internet. For real.

[notyourtoday]

Gaza has Internet!!!!!

[ivygorgon]

AN OPEN LETTER to THE U.S. CONGRESS

Fund the Affordable Connectivity Program NOW!

130 so far! Help us get to 250 signers!

I’m a concerned constituent writing to urge you to fund the Affordable Connectivity Program or ACP. Digital connectivity is a basic necessity in our modern world and the internet must be treated as a public utility. We use the internet to apply for jobs, perform our jobs, receive telehealth medical treatment, and pay bills, and students use it to complete homework assignments. But for millions of people in rural and urban areas, and Tribal communities, the internet is a luxury they cannot afford. Failure by Congress to fund this program will force millions of households already on tight budgets to choose between being able to stay online or potentially losing access to this essential service. If Congress doesn’t act fast, funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program will run out and more than 22 million Americans -- 1 in 6 households -- will lose this vital service. The implications of this will be devastating. In 2019, 18% of Native people living on Tribal land had no internet access; 33% relied on cell phone service for the internet; and 39% had spotty or no connection to the internet at home on their smart phone. The ACP has enrolled 320,000 households on Tribal lands -- important progress. The largest percentage gains in broadband access are in rural areas. Nearly half of military families are enrolled in ACP, as are one in four African American and Latino households. Losing access and training on using computers and the internet will have devastating impacts on all these communities as technology becomes increasingly integral to work, education, health, and our everyday lives. Without moves to address tech inequality, low-income communities and communities of color are heading towards an “unemployment abyss.” The Affordable Connectivity Program has broad bipartisan support because it is working. As your constituent, I am urging you to push for renewed funding for the ACP before it runs out in the coming weeks.

▶ Created on April 11 by Jess Craven

📱 Text SIGN PJXULY to 50409

🤯 Liked it? Text FOLLOW JESSCRAVEN101 to 50409

[vizrecon]

[watermelllonarchive]

Medo and his friend Talal explained how they connect to Internet in this video posted July 26. In their area, people have had trouble finding signal for their eSims. (See previous posts on eSims) Medo and Talal rely on an internet cafe where they must pay for their wifi connection.

Medo and Talal are documenting their daily lives and challenges on the Instagram account @ gazan.experience. Medo is on Instagram @ medo_halimy

You can donate to Talal's Go Fund Me here and Medo's here.

Available Go Fund Me campaigns for people whose stories have been shared on watermelllonarchive can be found in the resources post.

[raffaellopalandri]

The Paradox of "Free Work"

Daily writing promptWhat job would you do for free?View all responses The question of “Which job would you do for free” is a bit of a trick question from my current perspective. Image taken from Internet Here’s why (please consider that to keep the post at an acceptable length I will just give here the key elements of my reasoning): In a truly ideal world, unburdened by the constraints of…