Broadband battle: Missouri law prohibits cities from launching their own broadband services, but some groups are pushing against that policy, reports The Salem News Online, a newspaper in the south central area of the state. More than half of the rural residents of the state lack broadband with download speeds of 25 Mbps. Several electric cooperatives are exploring ways to provide broadband service.
Connecting Africa: In recent years, Microsoft has focused on bringing broadband to rural areas in the U.S. through its Airband initiative, and the program, focused on providing wireless broadband through unused television spectrum, could also have great benefits for Africa, according to a column at Forbes.com. The company’s international effort aims to connect 40 million people to the Internet by 2022.
Shutdown fuels fake news: An ongoing Internet shutdown in the India-controlled region of Kashmir has created a “fake news battle” with neighboring Pakistan involved, the International Business Times says. Groups from India and Pakistan are spreading disinformation, with one side distributing old photos from Gaza as supposed evidence that Kashmir has turned into a “living hell,” and the other side spreading old photos of happy children to purportedly show that everything is great in “the new Kashmir.”
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