Congress votes to pull funding for free Wi-Fi hotspots at schools and libraries

is a policy reporter at The Verge covering surveillance, the Department of Homeland Security, and the tech-right. The Senate has voted to end a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rule that used federal funding to cover Wi-Fi hotspots that could be used outside of school and libraries. The program, first implemented by former FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, applied funds from the $2.6 billion federal E-Rate program to a program that enabled schools and libraries to provide free Wi-Fi hotspots to children and others with poor or no internet access at home. As Policyband notes prior to a successful Senate procedural vote yesterday to take up the measure, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said the rule “violates the Communications Act, which clearly limits the use of the funds in question to classrooms and libraries.” In a statement last year, Rosenworcel disagreed that the law doesn’t support hotspot lending. Citing remote learning issues that were put in sharp relief ... Read full article.