Of all the everyday priorities that changed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, few became more crucial than the need to stay connected to the internet, to teachers and to doctors.
Efforts to expand broadband internet access, and especially systems that could connect individuals to their health care providers, have long benefited from bipartisan support, even if Republicans and Democrats disagree over exactly how to best achieve those expansions. Broadband and telehealth were often discussed but rarely prioritized, the rare instance in which both parties agree on something, only to have it overshadowed by unrelated disagreements.
Not so once the pandemic hit. Suddenly, expanding broadband and telehealth became key priorities for both parties as connectivity became what Jamie Susskind, vice president of policy and regulatory affairs at the Consumer Technology Association, calls “universal primary issues of importance.”
By Dian Schaffhauser
02/17/21
A
group of K-12 organizations has banded together to urge the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) to incorporate
cybersecurity purchases into the E-rate
program. The goal of the 35-page
petition is to help school districts protect their
networks and data by expanding E-rate in three ways:
By defining all firewall and related features as basic beginning in funding year 2021;
Increasing E-rate s five-year Category 2 budget cap in future funding years to support additional cybersecurity investments; and
Updating the agency s definition of broadband to include cybersecurity. With
cyberattacks threatening the broadband networks and data of schools,
including the school systems serving some of the country s most
Ed tech policy advocates are asking the FCC for help funding cybersecurity in public schools, as virtual learning continues and K-12 education is the most-targeted public sector for ransomware attacks.
POLITICO
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