Global climate institutions have embraced the primacy of capital, private firms, and marketsโand in so doing have fatally undermined their own efficacy.
Today, the Federal Communications Commission proposed rules to implement the Safe Connections Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law last December. Advocates consider the law a landmark move to stop tech abuse. Under the law, mobile service providers are required to help survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence access resources and maintain critical lines of communication with friends, family, and support organizations.
Under the proposed rules, mobile service providers are required to separate a survivorโs line from a shared or family plan within two business days. Service providers must also โomit records of calls or text messages to certain hotlines from consumer-facing call and text message logs,โ so that abusers cannot see when survivors are seeking help. Additionally, the FCC plans to launch a โLifelineโ program, providing emergency communications support for up to six months for survivors who canโt afford to pay for mobile services.
โThese proposed rules would help survivors obtain separate service lines from shared accounts that include their abusers, protect the privacy of calls made by survivors to domestic abuse hotlines, and provide support for survivors who suffer from financial hardship through our affordability programs,โ the FCCโs announcement said.
Matthew Hillier can't get Comcast service at his home in Arvada, Colorado. But that didn't stop Comcast from claiming it serves his house when it submitted data for the Federal Communications Commission's new broadband map.
Comcast eventually admitted to the FCC that it doesn't serve the addressโbut only after Ars got involved. Comcast will have to correct its submission for Hillier's house, and a bigger correction might be needed because it appears Comcast doesn't serve dozens of other nearby homes that it claimed as part of its coverage area.
When Hillier looked up his address on the FCC map, it showed Comcast claims to offer 1.2Gbps download and 35Mbps upload speeds at the house. In reality, he makes do with CenturyLink Internet that tops out at 60Mbps downloads and 5Mbps uploads.