#Internet#Broadband#Wellbeing: "Internet access and use is consistently associated with positive wellbeing, a new study of data from 168 countries by the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) suggests.
In many parts of the world, including the EU and UK, concerns about online harms have prompted new laws.
The OII says some of its findings are "consistent" with reported links between social media use and depressive symptoms among young women.
But it concludes the overall benefits of being online show regulators contemplating tougher laws should rely on data and not be "guided by anecdote."
"I anticipate that this work will be in some ways seen in contrast to the kind of the current social conversation surrounding tech," said professor Andrew Przybylski, of Oxford University, who led the research.
"If we’re going to make the online world safe for young people, we can’t just go in guns blazing with strong beliefs and a one size fits all solution - we really need to make sure that we’re sensitive to having our minds changed by data," he said."
The Affordable Connectivity Program was a landmark piece of U.S. government legislation passed in 2021 that aimed to make it easier for people to afford an internet connection in their homes. Today it all comes to an end, leaving an estimated 23 million households — roughly one in six — at risk of losing broadband access, widening the digital divide.
Despite pleas from the Biden administration and several advocacy groups to save the program, it has now officially lapsed. So what’s next? @WIRED has more.
#FCC reinstates #NetNeutrality policy after #Trump era cancellation. By following the law Congress wrote for modern internet-access service, FCC is reestablishing its federal oversight of the #telecommunications service that connects everyone.
#Broadband providers will need to stop playing favorites or #throttling links to websites they has no commercial deals with. Measure now likely to be challenged in court by corporate #telecom & cable communications giants.
The FCC has voted to restore net neutrality rules, which were previously rescinded under former president Donald Trump.
The vote reinstates protections established in 2015 that treat broadband as a utility, like water or electricity, and means all internet traffic must be treated equally. Here's more on what it means for you, from @CNN
Ah, finally, back to normal throughput (On Fiber, and could get better performance, but don't pay for higher service... Don't have any need for it) #broadband
Starting today, major ISPs will have to publish "nutrition labels" with basic information about their broadband offerings.
It's taken almost eight years to enforce, but the FCC hopes the move will "allow consumers to more easily comparison shop between plans and avoid any hidden fees," reports @theverge
The "Low Data Mode" features to the contrary — NO the tech companies don't actually care NOR did they actually solve the problem for folks on metered connections. They checked a compliance box and called it done. The assumption that bandwidth and data are so cheap and limitless as to be free permeates my industry. Always on is assumed and folks who try and deviate suffer.
A single misconfigured device autodownloading an OS or app or game update will blow through a monthly #Internet allotment.
Where always on #broadband is assumed you exceed your allotment you get shunted to an artificially limited bitrate. The majority of the Internet for your market becomes unusable. YouTube literally disconnects slow connections. NO downloading for later viewing for you, Madam or Sir!
The bloat promugulated by Web frameworks du jour ensure that a sizeable chunk of websites are nothing you care about; your content is rendered last after React has reconstituted itself in your browser VM.