Ars Technica: Senator Ted Cruz is trying to block Wi-Fi hotspots for schoolchildren

[DBoon]

US Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is trying to block a plan to distribute Wi-Fi hotspots to schoolchildren, claiming it will lead to unsupervised Internet usage, endanger kids, and possibly restrict kids' exposure to conservative viewpoints. "The government shouldn't be complicit in harming students or impeding parents' ability to decide what their kids see by subsidizing unsupervised access to inappropriate content," Cruz said.
...
"As adopted, the Biden administration's Wi-Fi Hotspot Order unlawfully expanded the Universal Service Fund (USF) to subsidize Wi-Fi hotspots for off-campus use by schoolchildren, despite the Communications Act clearly limiting the Commission's USF authority to 'classrooms,'" Cruz's announcement said. "This partisan order, strongly opposed by then-Commissioner Brendan Carr and Commissioner Nathan Simington, represents an overreach of the FCC's mandate and poses serious risk to children's online safety and parental rights."

Cruz's press release said that "unlike in a classroom or study hall, off-premises hotspot use is not typically supervised, inviting exposure to inappropriate content, including social media." Cruz's office alleged that the FCC program shifts control of Internet access from parents to schools and thus "heightens the risk of censoring kids' exposure to conservative viewpoints."

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/01/senator-ted-cruz-is-trying-to-block-wi-fi-hotspots-for-schoolchildren/

Anything that provides open information is somehow "censoring conservative viewpoints".

[Skittles]

1. less chance of them turning into bigots

that's what scares Cruz

[NameAlreadyTaken]

2. You've got to be taught to hate

[IcyPeas]

3. Oh yes! Protect the children from the internet ..... but AR-15's are fine

Shut up cancun Cruz.

[iemanja]

4. "Overreach"

What a joke. It's Trump who is overreaching.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

5. On the other hand...

"I believe Big Tech censorship poses the single greatest threat to free speech in this country, and the committee will use every available tool to engage in that oversight," Cruz told Punchbowl.