Latest news with #internetAccess
CBS News
18-06-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Meta 'concerned' by Iran telling citizens to stop using WhatsApp, spokesperson says
The messaging platform WhatsApp said Tuesday the company is "concerned" that the application will not be available to people in Iran after state television in the country urged users to delete the app. Iranian officials had warned people to stop using WhatsApp, Telegram and other "location-based applications," accusing them of being Israel's "main methods to identify and target individuals," according to a report from the country's state-run broadcaster IRIB earlier Tuesday. "We're concerned these false reports will be an excuse for our services to be blocked at a time when people need them the most. All of the messages you send to family and friends on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted meaning no-one except the sender and recipient has access to those messages, not even WhatsApp," a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement to CBS News. "We do not track your precise location, we don't keep logs of who everyone is messaging, and we do not track the personal messages people are sending one another," the WhatsApp spokesperson said. "We do not provide bulk information to any government. For over a decade, Meta has provided consistent transparency reports that include the limited circumstances when WhatsApp information has been requested." The claim made by Iran's state broadcaster comes as the country's Islamic regime appears to be cracking down on the public's access to the internet, as the Israel-Iran conflict intensifies. Israel on Friday launched airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities, scientists and senior military commanders, to which Iran responded with dozens of ballistic missiles. The countries have exchanged waves of missile attacks in the days since. At least two dozen people have been killed in Israel, according to the Israeli military, and dozens have been injured. Tehran has said at least 224 people have been killed in Iran since Friday. The internet monitoring group NetBlocks said its analysis showed a 75% reduction in internet usage across the country on Tuesday, data the group says "comes amid an escalating conflict with Israel and is likely to limit the public's ability to access information at a critical time." WhatsApp is owned by Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Threads. Meta's platforms have previously been targeted by Iran's autocratic government during times of unrest in the country. In 2022, as the Iranian government faced widespread protests over the death of 22-year-old student Mahsa Amini while in Iranian police custody, Meta said Iranian authorities had clamped down on the use of Instagram in the country in an effort to suppress the ability of protesters to share information. While WhatsApp is an end-to-end encrypted app, it is not impenetrable. Just last month, the Israeli software company NSO Group was ordered to pay WhatsApp $167 million for hacking 1,400 people, including activists and journalists, in 2019. The hack involved the use of a malicious software called Pegasus, which can be installed remotely on cellphones to access, among other things, people's microphones, cameras and GPS location settings.
BBC News
03-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
How Surrey Hills residents installed their own broadband cables
High-speed internet and information at our fingertips is now commonplace, but there are still areas of England where people struggle to of those places was the Surrey Hills, until in 2018 a group of locals chose to take action and began researching how to lay their own fibre optic Townsend, from Cranleigh, said major broadband providers would not supply the area because so few people lived there, so he founded Broadband for Surrey Hills (B4SH).The group soon began laying underground cabling in fields and has now connected more than 600 properties to superfast fibre optic broadband. The idea was first used by Barry Forde, from Broadband for Rural North, who was laying fibre optic cable to thousands of homes without internet in Cumbria. Mr Forde gave his designs to Mr Townsend for free to be used in Surrey."The major companies just don't want to know, it's just in the 'too hard' category'," said Mr Townsend. "Our original target was 600 connections and we've met that, but quite honestly we need to do more."The next few years are going to be very exciting. We've no aspiration to become a national network but the Surrey Hills is quite a big place."During the pandemic, the benefits of the B4SH project were Tim Heaney, the rector of United Benefice of Shere, Albury and Chilworth, said it meant he could keep running church services."Lockdown turned most of us into broadcasters," he said."Big churches were already videoing and broadcasting services, but certainly very few of us in rural areas were."Rev Heaney explained that he would record a service the day before it was needed as it would take all night to upload to YouTube - but with the new internet connection from B4SH he was able to stream it as it happened."I was amazed when I moved here, an hour from London, that the phone signal is appalling and the 4G is terrible, as was the broadband," he comes as the Digital Poverty Alliance launches a campaign on Tuesday to tackle "digital poverty and exclusion".Elizabeth Anderson, CEO of the alliance, said: "Digital poverty in the UK is solvable, but only if we act decisively, and together."Ending digital poverty means making bold, practical commitments, and delivering on them."From investing in local solutions to holding sectors accountable for delivery, this plan is a call to all of us – government, industry, and communities – to do more, and do it now."
The Independent
25-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
The Digital Equity Act tried to close the digital divide. Trump calls it racist and acts to end it
One program distributes laptops in rural Iowa. Another helped people get back online after Hurricane Helene washed away computers and phones in western North Carolina. Programs in Oregon and rural Alabama teach older people, including some who have never touched a computer, how to navigate in an increasingly digital world. It all came crashing down this month when President Donald Trump — on his own digital platform, Truth Social — announced his intention to end the Digital Equity Act, a federal grant program meant to help bridge the digital divide. He branded it as 'RACIST and ILLEGAL' and said it amounts to 'woke handouts based on race.' He said it was an 'ILLEGAL $2.5 BILLION DOLLAR giveaway," though the program was actually funded with $2.75 billion. The name seemed innocuous enough when the program was approved by Congress in 2021 as part of a $65 billion investment meant to bring internet access to every home and business in the United States. The broadband program itself was a key component of the $1 trillion infrastructure law pushed through by the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden. The Digital Equity Act was intended to fill gaps and cover unmet needs that surfaced during the massive broadband rollout. It gave states and tribes flexibility to deliver high-speed internet access to families that could not afford it, computers to kids who did not have them, telehealth access to older adults in rural areas, and training and job skills to veterans. Whether Trump has the legal authority to end the program remains unknown. But for now the Republican administration can simply stop spending the money. 'I just felt my heart break for what we were finally, finally in this country, going to address, the digital divide," said Angela Siefer, executive director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, a nonprofit that was awarded — but has not received — a $25.7 million grant to work with groups across the country to help provide access to technology. 'The digital divide is not just physical access to the internet, it is being able to use that to do what you need to do.' The word 'equity' While the name of the program likely got it targeted — the Trump administration has been aggressively scrubbing the government of programs that promote diversity, equity or inclusion — the Digital Equity Act was supposed to be broader in scope. Though Trump called it racist, the words 'race' or 'racial' appear just twice in the law's text: once, alongside 'color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, or disability,' in a passage stating that no groups should be excluded from funding, and later, in a list of covered populations, along with older adults, veterans, people with disabilities, English learners, people with low literacy levels and rural Americans. 'Digital Equity passed with overwhelming bipartisan support,' said Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the act's chief proponent, in a statement. 'And that's because my Republican colleagues have heard the same stories as I have — like kids in rural communities forced to drive to McDonalds parking lots for Wi-Fi to do their homework. "It is insane — absolutely nuts — that Trump is blocking resources to help make sure kids in rural school districts can get hot spots or laptops, all because he doesn't like the word equity!' The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which administers the program, declined to comment. It's not entirely clear how much of the $2.75 billion has been awarded, though last March the NTIA announced the allocation of $811 million to states, territories and tribes. 'More confident' On a recent morning in Portland, Oregon, Brandon Dorn was among those taking a keyboard basics class offered by Free Geek, a nonprofit that provides free courses to help people learn to use computers. The class was offered at a low-income housing building to make it accessible for residents. Dorn and the others were given laptops and shown the different functions of keys: control, shift and caps lock, how to copy and paste. They played a typing game that taught finger and key placement on a color-coded keyboard. Dorn, 63, said the classes helped because 'in this day and age, everything has to go through the computer.' He said it helped him feel more confident and less dependent on his children or grandchildren to do things such as making appointments online. 'Folks my age, we didn't get this luxury because we were too busy working, raising the family,' he said. 'So this is a great way to help us help ourselves.' Juan Muro, Free Geek's executive director, said participants get the tools and skills they need to access things like online banking, job applications, online education programs and telehealth. He said Trump's move to end funding has put nonprofits such as Free Geek in a precarious position, forcing them to make up the difference through their own fundraising and 'beg for money to just provide individuals with essential stuff." Sara Nichols works for the Land of Sky Regional Council, a multicounty planning and development organization in western North Carolina. On the Friday before Trump's inauguration in January, the organization received notice that it was approved for a grant. But like other groups The Associated Press contacted, it has not seen any money. Land of Sky had spent a lot of resources helping people recover from last year's storms. The award notice, Nichols said, came as 'incredible news.' 'But between this and the state losing, getting their letters terminated, we feel just like stuck. What are we going to do? How are we going to move forward? How are we going to let our communities continue to fall behind?' Filling unmet needs More than one-fifth of Americans do not have broadband internet access at home, according to the Pew Research Center. In rural communities, the number jumps to 27 percent. Beyond giving people access to technology and fast internet, many programs funded by the Digital Equity Act sought to provide 'digital navigators' — human helpers to guide people new to the online world. 'In the United States we do not have a consistent source of funding to help individuals get online, understand how to be safe online and how to use that technology to accomplish all the things that are required now as part of life that are online,' said Siefer of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance. This includes everything from providing families with internet hot spots so they can get online at home to helping seniors avoid online scams. 'Health, workforce, education, jobs, everything, right?' Siefer said. 'This law was going to be the start for the U.S. to figure out this issue. It's a new issue in the big scheme of things, because now technology is no longer a nice-to-have. You have to have the internet and you have to know how to use the technology just to survive, let alone to thrive today.' Siefer said the word 'equity' in the name probably prompted Trump to target the program for elimination. 'But it means that he didn't actually look at what this program does," she said. "Because who doesn't want grandma to be safe online? Who doesn't want a veteran to be able to talk to their doctor rather than get in a car and drive two hours? Who doesn't want students to be able to do their homework?' —- Ortutay reported from San Francisco.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The Digital Equity Act tried to close the digital divide. Trump calls it racist and acts to end it
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — One program distributes laptops in rural Iowa. Another helped people get back online after Hurricane Helene washed away computers and phones in western North Carolina. Programs in Oregon and rural Alabama teach older people, including some who have never touched a computer, how to navigate in an increasingly digital world. It all came crashing down this month when President Donald Trump — on his own digital platform, Truth Social — announced his intention to end the Digital Equity Act, a federal grant program meant to help bridge the digital divide. He branded it as 'RACIST and ILLEGAL' and said it amounts to 'woke handouts based on race.' He said it was an 'ILLEGAL $2.5 BILLION DOLLAR giveaway," though the program was actually funded with $2.75 billion. The name seemed innocuous enough when the program was approved by Congress in 2021 as part of a $65 billion investment meant to bring internet access to every home and business in the United States. The broadband program itself was a key component of the $1 trillion infrastructure law pushed through by the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden. The Digital Equity Act was intended to fill gaps and cover unmet needs that surfaced during the massive broadband rollout. It gave states and tribes flexibility to deliver high-speed internet access to families that could not afford it, computers to kids who did not have them, telehealth access to older adults in rural areas, and training and job skills to veterans. Whether Trump has the legal authority to end the program remains unknown. But for now the Republican administration can simply stop spending the money. 'I just felt my heart break for what we were finally, finally in this country, going to address, the digital divide," said Angela Siefer, executive director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, a nonprofit that was awarded — but has not received — a $25.7 million grant to work with groups across the country to help provide access to technology. 'The digital divide is not just physical access to the internet, it is being able to use that to do what you need to do.' The word 'equity' While the name of the program likely got it targeted — the Trump administration has been aggressively scrubbing the government of programs that promote diversity, equity or inclusion — the Digital Equity Act was supposed to be broader in scope. Though Trump called it racist, the words 'race' or 'racial' appear just twice in the law's text: once, alongside 'color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, or disability,' in a passage stating that no groups should be excluded from funding, and later, in a list of covered populations, along with older adults, veterans, people with disabilities, English learners, people with low literacy levels and rural Americans. 'Digital Equity passed with overwhelming bipartisan support,' said Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the act's chief proponent, in a statement. 'And that's because my Republican colleagues have heard the same stories as I have — like kids in rural communities forced to drive to McDonalds parking lots for Wi-Fi to do their homework. "It is insane — absolutely nuts — that Trump is blocking resources to help make sure kids in rural school districts can get hot spots or laptops, all because he doesn't like the word equity!' The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which administers the program, declined to comment. It's not entirely clear how much of the $2.75 billion has been awarded, though last March the NTIA announced the allocation of $811 million to states, territories and tribes. 'More confident' On a recent morning in Portland, Oregon, Brandon Dorn was among those taking a keyboard basics class offered by Free Geek, a nonprofit that provides free courses to help people learn to use computers. The class was offered at a low-income housing building to make it accessible for residents. Dorn and the others were given laptops and shown the different functions of keys: control, shift and caps lock, how to copy and paste. They played a typing game that taught finger and key placement on a color-coded keyboard. Dorn, 63, said the classes helped because 'in this day and age, everything has to go through the computer.' He said it helped him feel more confident and less dependent on his children or grandchildren to do things such as making appointments online. 'Folks my age, we didn't get this luxury because we were too busy working, raising the family,' he said. 'So this is a great way to help us help ourselves.' Juan Muro, Free Geek's executive director, said participants get the tools and skills they need to access things like online banking, job applications, online education programs and telehealth. He said Trump's move to end funding has put nonprofits such as Free Geek in a precarious position, forcing them to make up the difference through their own fundraising and 'beg for money to just provide individuals with essential stuff." Sara Nichols works for the Land of Sky Regional Council, a multicounty planning and development organization in western North Carolina. On the Friday before Trump's inauguration in January, the organization received notice that it was approved for a grant. But like other groups The Associated Press contacted, it has not seen any money. Land of Sky had spent a lot of resources helping people recover from last year's storms. The award notice, Nichols said, came as 'incredible news.' 'But between this and the state losing, getting their letters terminated, we feel just like stuck. What are we going to do? How are we going to move forward? How are we going to let our communities continue to fall behind?' Filling unmet needs More than one-fifth of Americans do not have broadband internet access at home, according to the Pew Research Center. In rural communities, the number jumps to 27 percent. Beyond giving people access to technology and fast internet, many programs funded by the Digital Equity Act sought to provide 'digital navigators' — human helpers to guide people new to the online world. 'In the United States we do not have a consistent source of funding to help individuals get online, understand how to be safe online and how to use that technology to accomplish all the things that are required now as part of life that are online,' said Siefer of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance. This includes everything from providing families with internet hot spots so they can get online at home to helping seniors avoid online scams. 'Health, workforce, education, jobs, everything, right?' Siefer said. 'This law was going to be the start for the U.S. to figure out this issue. It's a new issue in the big scheme of things, because now technology is no longer a nice-to-have. You have to have the internet and you have to know how to use the technology just to survive, let alone to thrive today.' Siefer said the word 'equity' in the name probably prompted Trump to target the program for elimination. 'But it means that he didn't actually look at what this program does," she said. "Because who doesn't want grandma to be safe online? Who doesn't want a veteran to be able to talk to their doctor rather than get in a car and drive two hours? Who doesn't want students to be able to do their homework?' —- Ortutay reported from San Francisco. Barbara Ortutay And Claire Rush, The Associated Press Sign in to access your portfolio
Associated Press
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
The Digital Equity Act tried to close the digital divide. Trump calls it racist and acts to end it
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — One program distributes laptops in rural Iowa. Another helped people get back online after Hurricane Helene washed away computers and phones in western North Carolina. Programs in Oregon and rural Alabama teach older people, including some who have never touched a computer, how to navigate in an increasingly digital world. It all came crashing down this month when President Donald Trump — on his own digital platform, Truth Social — announced his intention to end the Digital Equity Act, a federal grant program meant to help bridge the digital divide. He branded it as 'RACIST and ILLEGAL' and said it amounts to 'woke handouts based on race.' He said it was an 'ILLEGAL $2.5 BILLION DOLLAR giveaway,' though the program was actually funded with $2.75 billion. The name seemed innocuous enough when the program was approved by Congress in 2021 as part of a $65 billion investment meant to bring internet access to every home and business in the United States. The broadband program itself was a key component of the $1 trillion infrastructure law pushed through by the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden. The Digital Equity Act was intended to fill gaps and cover unmet needs that surfaced during the massive broadband rollout. It gave states and tribes flexibility to deliver high-speed internet access to families that could not afford it, computers to kids who did not have them, telehealth access to older adults in rural areas, and training and job skills to veterans. Whether Trump has the legal authority to end the program remains unknown. But for now the Republican administration can simply stop spending the money. 'I just felt my heart break for what we were finally, finally in this country, going to address, the digital divide,' said Angela Siefer, executive director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, a nonprofit that was awarded — but has not received — a $25.7 million grant to work with groups across the country to help provide access to technology. 'The digital divide is not just physical access to the internet, it is being able to use that to do what you need to do.' The word 'equity' While the name of the program likely got it targeted — the Trump administration has been aggressively scrubbing the government of programs that promote diversity, equity or inclusion — the Digital Equity Act was supposed to be broader in scope. Though Trump called it racist, the words 'race' or 'racial' appear just twice in the law's text: once, alongside 'color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, or disability,' in a passage stating that no groups should be excluded from funding, and later, in a list of covered populations, along with older adults, veterans, people with disabilities, English learners, people with low literacy levels and rural Americans. 'Digital Equity passed with overwhelming bipartisan support,' said Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the act's chief proponent, in a statement. 'And that's because my Republican colleagues have heard the same stories as I have — like kids in rural communities forced to drive to McDonalds parking lots for Wi-Fi to do their homework. 'It is insane — absolutely nuts — that Trump is blocking resources to help make sure kids in rural school districts can get hot spots or laptops, all because he doesn't like the word equity!' The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which administers the program, declined to comment. It's not entirely clear how much of the $2.75 billion has been awarded, though last March the NTIA announced the allocation of $811 million to states, territories and tribes. 'More confident' On a recent morning in Portland, Oregon, Brandon Dorn was among those taking a keyboard basics class offered by Free Geek, a nonprofit that provides free courses to help people learn to use computers. The class was offered at a low-income housing building to make it accessible for residents. Dorn and the others were given laptops and shown the different functions of keys: control, shift and caps lock, how to copy and paste. They played a typing game that taught finger and key placement on a color-coded keyboard. Dorn, 63, said the classes helped because 'in this day and age, everything has to go through the computer.' He said it helped him feel more confident and less dependent on his children or grandchildren to do things such as making appointments online. 'Folks my age, we didn't get this luxury because we were too busy working, raising the family,' he said. 'So this is a great way to help us help ourselves.' Juan Muro, Free Geek's executive director, said participants get the tools and skills they need to access things like online banking, job applications, online education programs and telehealth. He said Trump's move to end funding has put nonprofits such as Free Geek in a precarious position, forcing them to make up the difference through their own fundraising and 'beg for money to just provide individuals with essential stuff.' Sara Nichols works for the Land of Sky Regional Council, a multicounty planning and development organization in western North Carolina. On the Friday before Trump's inauguration in January, the organization received notice that it was approved for a grant. But like other groups The Associated Press contacted, it has not seen any money. Land of Sky had spent a lot of resources helping people recover from last year's storms. The award notice, Nichols said, came as 'incredible news.' 'But between this and the state losing, getting their letters terminated, we feel just like stuck. What are we going to do? How are we going to move forward? How are we going to let our communities continue to fall behind?' Filling unmet needs More than one-fifth of Americans do not have broadband internet access at home, according to the Pew Research Center. In rural communities, the number jumps to 27 percent. Beyond giving people access to technology and fast internet, many programs funded by the Digital Equity Act sought to provide 'digital navigators' — human helpers to guide people new to the online world. 'In the United States we do not have a consistent source of funding to help individuals get online, understand how to be safe online and how to use that technology to accomplish all the things that are required now as part of life that are online,' said Siefer of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance. This includes everything from providing families with internet hot spots so they can get online at home to helping seniors avoid online scams. 'Health, workforce, education, jobs, everything, right?' Siefer said. 'This law was going to be the start for the U.S. to figure out this issue. It's a new issue in the big scheme of things, because now technology is no longer a nice-to-have. You have to have the internet and you have to know how to use the technology just to survive, let alone to thrive today.' Siefer said the word 'equity' in the name probably prompted Trump to target the program for elimination. 'But it means that he didn't actually look at what this program does,' she said. 'Because who doesn't want grandma to be safe online? Who doesn't want a veteran to be able to talk to their doctor rather than get in a car and drive two hours? Who doesn't want students to be able to do their homework?' —- Ortutay reported from San Francisco.
