The Federal Communications Commission this week voted to raise its internet speed benchmark for the first time since January 2015, concluding that modern broadband service should provide at least 100 Mbps download speeds and 20 Mbps upload speeds. An FCC press release after Thursday’s 3-2 vote said the 100 Mbps/20 Mbps benchmark “is based on … Read more
Do you remember Ajit Pai? The former FCC Chairman handpicked by then-president Donald Trump? You know, the one who was infamous for drinking out of a giant Reese’s coffee mug and…oh yeah, killing net neutrality? In 2021, when he was on the way out of the agency, Pai declared that a paltry 25 megabits per … Read more
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Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge “I think our new threshold, frankly, should be 100Mbps. I think anything short of that shortchanges our children, our future, and our new digital economy.” That’s what FCC commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel argued nine years ago — now, it’s finally happening. Today, the FCC has changed its definition of … Read more
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said Monday that the agency should investigate Apple over the company’s decision to block the Beeper Mini service, which worked on bringing iMessage to Android. Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky’s Beeper launched a new service called Beeper Mini in December, which claimed to have reverse-engineered the iMessage stack to make it work on … Read more
In January, a robocall impersonated President Joe Biden and told Democrats not to vote in the New Hampshire primary. Now the Federal Communications Commission has ruled that calls made with artificial intelligence-generated voices are illegal, giving states a new way to go after the people who create such calls. The ruling takes effect immediately. The … Read more
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The Federal Communications Commission is making it illegal for robocalls to use AI-generated voices. The ruling, issued on Thursday, gives state attorneys general the ability to take action against callers using AI voice cloning tech. As outlined in the ruling, AI-generated voices are now considered “an artificial or prerecorded voice” under the Telephone Consumer Protection … Read more
The FCC’s war on robocalls has gained a new weapon in its arsenal with the declaration of AI-generated voices as “artificial” and therefore by definitely against the law when used in automated calling scams. It may not stop the flood of fake Joe Bidens that will almost certainly trouble our phones this election season, but … Read more
Some voters in New Hampshire received a call from someone who sounded a lot like President Joe Biden. The call encouraged those New Hampshire residents to stay home during the primary election last week and “save your votes” for the general election in November. Of course, that makes no sense. Voters can vote in both … Read more
The FCC has made a final denial of Starlink’s application for $885 million in public funds to expand its orbital communications infrastructure to cover parts of rural America, saying the company “failed to demonstrate that it could deliver the promised service.” As previously reported, the money in question was part of the Rural Digital Opportunity … Read more
When I first heard in 2013 that Barack Obama had chosen Tom Wheeler to head the crucial tech regulator that is the US Federal Communications Commission, my first thought was … what a sell-out! The new FCC boss had previously been head lobbyist for not one, but two industries: cable TV and cellular telecom. How … Read more