{"id":26117,"date":"2022-08-26T14:31:27","date_gmt":"2022-08-26T18:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/?p=26117"},"modified":"2022-08-26T14:34:13","modified_gmt":"2022-08-26T18:34:13","slug":"aeis-shane-tews-highlights-another-peril-of-government-owned-broadband-cybersecurity-weakness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/26117\/aeis-shane-tews-highlights-another-peril-of-government-owned-broadband-cybersecurity-weakness\/","title":{"rendered":"AEI’s Shane Tews Highlights Another Peril of Government-Owned Broadband: Cybersecurity Weakness"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years we at CFIF have highlighted<\/a> the failures and peril of government-run broadband boondoggles.\u00a0 Government-owned networks (GONs) have an uninterrupted history of failure both domestically and overseas.\u00a0 They compete with private investment in commercial networks, they create more debt for taxpayers who ultimately become liable for them, they rarely if ever manage to break even financially, and they offer substandard quality.<\/p>\n

In that vein, our friend Shane Tews of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) offers an excellent new analysis<\/a> highlighting yet another fatal defect of GONs:\u00a0 weaker cybersecurity:<\/p>\n

Local governments are good at many things, but asking them to understand how to keep local networks safe and protect connections to the nation\u2019s internet infrastructure is a stretch.\u00a0 Cybersecurity plans deserve more scrutiny at every level \u2014 especially given the possibility of local weaknesses in our network fabrics via government-owned and -operated broadband networks that often lack the tools to detect cyber intrusions.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She rightfully contrasts the superior comparative performance of private broadband, and suggests a better option:<\/p>\n

Commercial broadband providers, on the other hand, spend tens of billions of dollars annually to keep things running safely. They invest heavily in network security, pay hundreds of professionals to guard their network operations, and endlessly brainstorm ways to protect customers\u2019 information.<\/p>\n

We should build on what the COVID-19 work-from-home period has taught us: that our networks work extraordinarily<\/a> well<\/a>. Rather than overbuilding duplicative networks in areas that already have good broadband coverage, the state should partner with the private sector to close coverage gaps and build secure networks that give new internet users safe access. There is almost no question that the size and nature of these cyber threats will continue to escalate. We need to strengthen our network defenses \u2014 not build new, defenseless networks.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Her pieces always merit full reading, and she hits the nail on the head by encouraging government to partner with private broadband providers that work extraordinarily well, not needlessly compete against them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For years we at CFIF have highlighted the failures and peril of government-run broadband boondoggles.\u00a0 Government-owned networks (GONs) have an uninterrupted history of failure both domestically and overseas.\u00a0 They compete with private investment in commercial networks, they create more debt for taxpayers who ultimately become liable for them, they rarely if ever manage to break […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1388,5182,4834,308,4370],"class_list":["post-26117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-posts","tag-broadband","tag-gon","tag-government-owned-networks","tag-internet","tag-municipal-broadband"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26117"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26119,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26117\/revisions\/26119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}