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FCC Data Exaggerates Broadband Access On Tribal Lands (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Broadband access in tribal areas is likely even worse than previously thought because Federal Communications Commission data overstates deployment, according to a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). FCC data collection was already known to be suspect throughout the U.S., not just in tribal areas, which in turn makes it difficult for the FCC to target deployment funding to the areas that need it most. Tribal lands have less broadband access than most other parts of the U.S. and thus may be disproportionately affected by the FCC's data collection problems.
"Residents of tribal lands have lower levels of broadband Internet access relative to the U.S. as a whole, but the digital divide may be greater than currently thought," the GAO wrote. "FCC data overstated tribes' broadband availability and access to broadband service. These overstatements limit FCC and tribal users' ability to target broadband funding to tribal lands." Despite the well-known broadband access problems in tribal areas, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has been trying to limit the Lifeline subsidies that help tribal residents purchase Internet access. A federal appeals court recently blocked Pai's attempt to take a broadband subsidy away from tribal areas.
"Residents of tribal lands have lower levels of broadband Internet access relative to the U.S. as a whole, but the digital divide may be greater than currently thought," the GAO wrote. "FCC data overstated tribes' broadband availability and access to broadband service. These overstatements limit FCC and tribal users' ability to target broadband funding to tribal lands." Despite the well-known broadband access problems in tribal areas, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has been trying to limit the Lifeline subsidies that help tribal residents purchase Internet access. A federal appeals court recently blocked Pai's attempt to take a broadband subsidy away from tribal areas.
Like the rest of this administration, the FCC is a criminal enterprise now (emphasis added)
Nice job, Trump voters
I just knew that this sort of thing was going to crop up in this discussion. Let me share a few quotes from the report:
According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), as of December 2016, 35.4 percent of Americans residing on tribal lands lacked access to fixed broadband services, compared to 7.7 percent of all Americans.
owever, in 2016 we reported that tribal and federal officials had concerns that the federal map of broadband availability at the time (the National Broadband Map) did not accurately depict broadband availability on tribal lands.
The federal government has not updated the National Broadband Map since April 2015, with the last update containing data as of June 30, 2014.
To address both objectives, we analyzed FCCâ(TM)s December 2016â"the most recent data at the time of our review
In case it isn't obvious, all of those statements clearly indicate that the data and analysis are from prior to Trump taking office. Now, the Trump administration has done plenty that is worthy of criticism, but so did the Obama administration. Yet, I see plenty of Republicans willing to openly criticize Trump, but hardly any Democrats willing to criticize Obama, Hillary, etc.
If the strategy is to always blame the other side, even when your side was the source or a major part of the problem, then it is difficult to actually fix anything.
Unemployment numbers are a good example. Democrats continually complained that Bush wasn't using the "real" numbers since U3 (I think it is) does not accurately reflect labor participation, among other things. They same complaint is being made about Trump. Interestingly, the methodology remained unchanged under Obama, yet I cannot recall a single instance of a prominent Democrat or the media calling out Obama for fudging the unemployment numbers.
And lest you think that I am biased against Obama and the Democrats, the Republicans do the same thing. Listen to a Republican rant and rave about Obama racking up more debt then every previous president put together. Then ask what the majority party was in Congress that sent him spending bills for 6 of the 8 years of his presidency.
Seriously, own it when your own side is wrong and then get to work fixing it.
It's my understanding that anyone that wishes to build cellular infrastructure on tribal land must go through the FCC. Then,by law, the FCC must send out notifications to every tribe in the US (regardless of being states away) and ask if they have a vested interest in that tiny plot of land to be used. If "Yes", the tribe must make an offer.
So what do you know, every tribe comes out of the woodwork and demands fee. That gets real expensive in a hurry!
Life is not for the lazy.