The Federal Communications Commissions’ decade-long blueprint for increasing broadband Internet access could widen the digital divide between rural and metropolitan areas, according to a bipartisan group of 40 House members who sent a letter to agency Chairman Julius Genachowski on Friday.

“The plan as written will lead to job loss, less investment in rural areas, a further erosion of state and local economics, and the deterioration of communications services for our constituents,” the members wrote.

The FCC’s plan, which Congress mandated in the stimulus act last year, is not ambitious enough when it comes to underserved, rural communities, the members said. The FCC calls for 4 megabits per second (Mbps) connectivity in rural areas while aspiring to 100 Mbps in the nation’s most densely-populated spots, according to the letter.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is being urged to monitor "hate speech" on talk radio and cable broadcast networks.

Men know more than women about how quickly they connect to the Internet — or so they say, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Gauging how well Americans understand their home broadband speeds, the survey found 90 percent of women admit that they do not know how quickly they connect, but only 71 percent of men fess up to the same lack of awareness.

Meanwhile, women are more likely to believe the promises of AT&T, Verizon and Comcast. The survey found 5 percent more women than men say the speed they get at home is equal to the speed advertised by their provider (22 percent of men versus 27 percent of women).

The gender divide persists in mobile connectivity. Women were more likely to say they are very satisfied with this part of their service, by a 9 percent gap (38 percent versus 29 percent).

The world's biggest PC manufacturer Hewlett-Packard will cut 9,000 jobs and invest $1 billion to develop the next generation of cloud computing services, according to a statement Tuesday.

HP said it will invest $1 billion to create fully automated commercial data centers and expand its enterprise services unit over a multiyear period. The cuts are due to productivity gains and automation, but HP said it will replace 6,000 of the jobs by expanding its global sales and delivery staff.

The moves are part of HP's push to expand its cloud computing offerings, which allow users to access applications and services remotely. HP made a splash in the IT services market in 2008 by purchasing Electronic Data Systems, a merger that is now largely complete according to the HP Enterprise Services general manager Tom Iannotti.

A Pakistani court has restored access to Facebook after the popular social network restricted access to content deemed blasphemous by some Muslims.

The Lahore High Court reversed its two-week ban on Facebook Monday and ordered the Pakistani government to restore access while blocking specific content deemed blasphemous to Islam. But that won't be necessary, because Facebook has moved to ensure Pakistani users cannot access the content that sparked the controversy.

"After reviewing the situation, including information from the Government of Pakistan that confirms Pakistani law in this area, we decided to prevent the 'Everybody Draws Mohhamed Day' page from being viewed by users in Pakistan out of respect for local standards and customs," said Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes.

Noyes said the company did not remove the content, though some of the creators have chosen to do so, but "only restricted access to it from certain countries out of respect for local rules." Most Muslims consider images of the prophet to be blasphemous. Noyes likened the situation to Nazi content, which he said is illegal in some countries, "but that does not mean it should be removed entirely from Facebook."

"Most companies approach this issue by preventing certain content from being shown to users in countries where it is illegal, and that is our approach as well."

Here's what the tech policy conversation is swirling around on Tuesday. E-mail what you're following most at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

CAN'T-MISS NEWS
 
"HURT LOCKER" PRODUCER MOUNTS OFFENSIVE AGAINST DIGITAL PIRACY: Anyone who used BitTorrent to download a pirated copy of "The Hurt Locker," the Oscar-winning film set in Iraq, should be feeling antsy after the movie’s production company filed suit against 5,000 individuals on Monday. The move marks “one of the most direct efforts by the movie business to clamp down” on digital piracy, says the Wall Street Journal. Going after individuals is a tactic borrowed from the recording industry, which put its PR shops through the wringer while it pursued such lawsuits over the last decade. The Motion Picture Association of America made it loud and clear that it is not involved in this effort. Many industry reps, meanwhile, say the method can have a deterrent effect on piracy.

GOOGLE DITCHES WINDOWS ON SECURITY CONCERNS: Windows will no longer appear on computers at Google. Starting in January, the company began phasing out Windows after getting spooked by hackings in China, according to employees who spoke to the Financial Times. Employees need clearance at “quite senior levels” to continue using Windows, one employee said, and can now use Macs or can opt for PCs running the Linux operating system. “Windows is known for being more vulnerable to attacks by hackers and more susceptible to computer viruses than other operating systems,” the FT says. The article points out the Microsoft and Google are hot competitors, with Google leading in search and Microsoft providing the world’s most popular operating system.

NUMBER PUNCH

2 MILLION IPADS: iPad sales have topped two million in the two months since the device’s launch on April 3, Apple announced Monday. The company began selling it in nine additional countries over the weekend. CEO Steve Jobs was pleased: “Customers around the world are experiencing the magic” and “seem to be loving it as much as we do,” he said. In other Apple achievements, “iPad” is a trending topic on Twitter this morning.

With Russia planning to create its own Silicon Valley outside of Moscow, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev will visit California in June to learn more about the original.

Medvedev's trip is part of a broader Russian strategy of increasing engagement with the West to help the country's modernization efforts. The New York Times reports Russia is attempting to use foreign policy in order to acquire new technology and attract investments in the face of significantly lower oil prices.

The hi-tech village of Skolkovo is Medvedev's pet project and an attempt to diversify the country's exports, which are dominated by metals and oil. Medvedev has said he wants the country's economy to shift from energy provider to a modern European economy.

The effort to plug the gusher deep in the Gulf of Mexico may be continuing, with setbacks being suffered as mud and junk are used to try to stem the flow, but the response to the spill now has nearly 27,000 Facebook fans.

The Facebook page for the Deepwater Horizon Response is being managed by social media/public affairs experts in the federal agencies that comprise the Unified Command: BP, Transocean, Coast Guard, Mineral Management Service, NOAA, EPA, Homeland Security, Interior Department, Defense Department, Fish & Wildlife Service, National Park Service, State Department, U.S. Geological Survey, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and OSHA.

The last photo galleries posted on the Facebook page are from early May: President Obama's first visit to the Gulf (before he returned on Friday), pictures of workers dragging out oil containment booms, maps of the spill's reach at the time. The page also features numerous YouTube videos of cleanup efforts and more than 2,000 links to news stories about the spill.

Fans have also been posting their personal solutions to stop the well from pouring oil into the Gulf, as well as many comments: some appreciative, some conspiratorial, many downright disgusted and frustrated.

And yes, the response team is also tweeting updates.

The House approved a measure today aimed at making the nation more competitive, passing the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 to provide $85.6 billion over five years for science research and education.
 
 “If we are to reverse the trend of the last twenty years, where our country’s technology edge in the world has diminished, we must make the investments necessary today,” House Science Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN) said in a statement after the bill was passed by a 262 to 150 vote.
 
Although the measure had the support of major industry lobbies, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, it failed twice this month, most recently on procedural challenges after Gordon attempted to use a process that would avoid amendments but which raised the number of votes for needed for passage.