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  2. February 2014

February 2014

Coase, Net Neutrality and Netflix

[Commentary] Comcast and Netflix have come to a deal on ‘peering.’ Basically, what this means is that Netflix will pay Comcast to ensure that Netflix’s customers get good Internet service for Netflix. While apparently Netflix is not getting special treatment under the deal, as we economists all know, it is what not having a deal would have done that has driven this.

So while the deal itself may be ‘neutral,’ the counterfactual (without the deal) may well not have. Of course, that counterfactual could also have involved Netflix complaining with regard to the proposed Comcast-Time Warner merger and so ‘who is paying who’ is perhaps a little less clear here. (Note also that my statements here are no different given that Netflix may just be substituting Comcast for another provider in accessing Comcast customers; the issue is not so much that but whether there is something ‘special’ in the Comcast-Netflix arrangement that may not have happened without the arrangement).

Federal Communications Commission
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
9:00 a.m.-11:15 a.m.
http://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-ai-event-spotlight-innovation-voting-acc...

In 2002, the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) was created to provide all citizens equal access to the electoral process, regardless of ability. As part of an ongoing effort to improve voting accessibility, Dr. Gilbert and his lab developed Prime III, a secure, multimodal electronic voting system developed by his lab that takes a universal design approach to address security, trust, and ease of use issues. Dr. Gilbert and his research lab won the FCC Chairman’s Award for Advancement in Accessibility in the Civic Participation Solutions category for development of Prime III.

Dr. Gilbert and his research team were recently awarded a $4.5 million dollar grant from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to conduct research on accessible voting technologies. Dr. Gilbert's research team has also conducted studies on the time it takes to vote in an effort to reduce voting lines on Election Day. This presentation will include a demonstration of Prime III and other voting innovations on which Dr. Gilbert has worked.


New America Foundation
Friday, February 28, 2014
9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

As more and more teens communicate through popular social media platforms, concerns about their digital privacy, safety, and mental health are becoming ever more audible. But how exactly is social media woven into teens' lives, and how effective are efforts to "protect" teenage users online?

New America's Open Technology Institute invites you to join danah boyd for a discussion of her latest book, It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. Dispelling common myths and fears, boyd's groundbreaking book highlights the nuanced ways in which teens use social media to engage with others and develop a sense of self.

Joined by Mary Madden and Amanda Lenhart of Pew Research Center, boyd will highlight key lessons learned from her original fieldwork and extensive hands-on research. Ultimately, we'll grapple with one of the book's key questions: when it comes to teens online, which of our fears are unfounded, and which are more complicated?

Featured Speakers:
danah boyd
Author of It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens
Microsoft Research, Data & Society Research Institute
@zephoria

Amanda Lenhart
Senior Researcher, Director of Teens and Technology,
Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project
@Amanda_Lenhart

Mary Madden
Senior Researcher, Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project
@mary_madden

Join the conversation online using #networkedteens and following @OTI.

If you are unable to join us in person, please tune in to our live webcast on the day of the event here. No signup is required to view the streaming video.

To RSVP :
http://www.newamerica.org/events/2014/social_lives_of_networked_teens

For questions, contact Kirsten Holtz at New America at (202) 735-2806 or holtz@newamerica.org


New America Foundation
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

In China, online critics write in code to spread the truths their government wants to hide. In Cuba, bloggers band together to get a fellow activist out of jail. And in Russia, a lone blogger launches online campaigns against the country's most powerful companies, and rises to become the most prominent opposition figure since the fall of the Soviet Union.

In , former State Department policy advisor and Wall Street Journal writer Emily Parker provides on-the-ground accounts of how social media is transforming lives and challenging governments in China, Russia, and Cuba. This book introduces us to an army of bloggers and tweeters - generals and foot soldiers alike. They refuse to be intimidated by surveillance cameras or citizen informers. Even as they navigate the risks of authoritarian life, they feel free.

Featured Speakers
Emily Parker
Author, : Voices From the Internet Underground
Senior Fellow and Digital Diplomacy Advisor, New America Foundation

Anne-Marie Slaughter
President and CEO, New America Foundation

Join the conversation online using #netunderground and following @NewAmerica.

If you are unable to join us in person, tune in to the live webcast. No signup is required to view the streaming video.

To RSVP :
http://www.newamerica.net/events/2014/now_i_know_who_my_comrades_are

For questions, contact Liana Simonds at New America at (202) 735-2829 or simonds@newamerica.org


Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Tuesday, March 18
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
http://www.itif.org/events/national-broadband-plan-four-years-later

In March 2010, at the request of Congress, the Obama administration presented a strategy for expanding the availability and adoption of broadband Internet access nationwide. The National Broadband Plan included specific proposals to address "national purposes" through expanded broadband access, including job creation and economic growth, consumer welfare, civic participation, public safety and homeland security, health care, and energy independence and efficiency.

ITIF reunites the team from the Federal Communications Commission that spearheaded the development of recommendations to integrate broadband into key components of society and people's daily lives. The team provides an update on the plan's effectiveness in achieving these national purposes during what has already been an eventful year for Internet policy action and debate. Lunch will be provided

The event is free, open to the public and complies with ethics rules. Live webcast will be featured on event page.

Participants:

Robert D. Atkinson
President, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Moderator

Blair Levin
Communications and Society Fellow, Aspen Institute
Presenter

Mohit Kaushal
Partner, Aberdare Ventures
Presenter

Additional speakers to be announced.


Information Technology & Innovation Foundation
Wednesday, February 26
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
http://www.itif.org/events/realizing-promise-telehealth

An aging population and an expansion in health care coverage means that more Americans will be using health care services in the coming years. As new demands are placed on our national health care system, policymakers need to be actively working to leverage technology to lower costs, increase access, and improve quality of care. One important opportunity will come from the use of telehealth technologies to easily connect doctors and patients through online encounters that are often on par with in-person ones, but with lower costs and greater convenience for doctors and patients. Unfortunately, while the technology to deliver these services is available today, adoption remains relatively low because of a variety of policy barriers.

Join ITIF, along with Representatives Matsui (D-CA) and Johnson (R-OH), co-sponsors of the Telehealth Modernization Act, to discuss how Congress can help overcome these barriers and expand the benefits of telehealth to all Americans.

The event is free, open to the public and complies with ethics rules.

Participants:
Bill Johnson
United States Congress (OH-6)
Presenter

Doris Matsui
United States Congress (CA-6)
Presenter

Daniel Castro
Senior Analyst, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Presenter

Krista Drobac
Policy Advisor, DLA Piper
Presenter

Kofi Jones
Vice President of Public Relations and Government Affairs, American Well
Presenter


Broadcasting Board of Governors
Thursday, March 13, 2014
9:00 AM to 10:00 AM (EDT)
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/contemporary-media-use-in-egypt-tickets-107...

As Egypt wrestles with a tense transitional period, attitudes towards politics and media are at an all-time low. Although 91% of the population agrees that objective and independent media are important for the country’s future, many have negative attitudes toward the media overall.

Television continues to be the most dominant and most trusted platform in Egypt, with 94% of Egyptians using it weekly for news. The use of the Internet for news has been gradually increasing and it is much higher among Egyptian youth than among the population overall. However, despite mainstream media allusions to the “Twitter revolution,” large segments of Egyptian society have never used the Internet.

The event will include a presentation of the key findings from the recent media use study, as well as a methodological overview and a review of attitudinal data from the Gallup World Poll.

Speakers will include:

  • Chris Stewart, Partner, Gallup
  • Bruce Sherman, Director, Office of Strategy and Development, BBG
  • Mohamed Younis, Senior Analyst and Senior Practice Consultant, Gallup
  • Diana Turecek, Director of Audience Research, MBN

Silicon Flatirons Center
Colorado Law School
Thursday, April 3, 2014
1:00 - 7:15 PM
http://siliconflatirons.com/events.php?id=1429

The definition of property rights in contexts outside of traditional metes and bounds of land raises a series of interesting issues. In a range of contexts, including access to water, wireless spectrum, and minerals, governments face a question of how to ensure that the resource is used effectively and that adjacent users do not interfere with the rights of one another. In each context, different strategies are used to accomplish these goals and rarely are those strategies compared and contrasted across the specific domains.

In this conference, building on last year's conference discussing the move towards more dynamic markets in different areas, we will bring together leading experts from the different fields to examine and compare two concepts that have enjoyed different success in these three domains—a "use it or lose it" regime and different judicial or administrative regimes to guard against and address concerns around interference. To reflect on the day's discussions, the nation's leading property scholar, Richard Epstein, will offer a keynote address.

Panel Two: Wireless Spectrum
3:15pm - 4:15pm

Rob Alderfer
Principal Strategic Analyst
CableLabs

Robert Kelly
Partner
Squire Sanders (US) LLP

Joan Marsh
Vice President Federal Regulatory
AT&T

Pantelis Michalopoulos
Partner
Steptoe & Johnson LLP

Moderator
Bryan Tramont
Managing Partner
Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP
Silicon Flatirons Senior Adjunct Fellow


George Washington University Law School
Thursday, April 3, 2014
12:30 pm
http://www.law.gwu.edu/News/2013-2014events/Pages/System_and_Conscience....

The Global Internet Freedom and Human Rights Distinguished Speaker Series hosts Yochai Benkler, the Berkman Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School, and faculty co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.

Since the 1990s Mr. Benkler has played a role in characterizing the role of information commons and decentralized collaboration to innovation, information production, and freedom in the networked economy and society.

His books include The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom (Yale University Press 2006), which won academic awards from the American Political Science Association, the American Sociological Association, and the Donald McGannon Award for Social and Ethical Relevance in Communications Policy Research. In 2012, he received a lifetime achievement award from Oxford University "in recognition of his extraordinary contribution to the study and public understanding of the Internet and information goods." His work is socially engaged, winning him the Ford Foundation Visionaries Award in 2011, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Pioneer Award for 2007, and the Public Knowledge IP3 Award in 2006.'


Netflix, Comcast and Net Neutrality

A deal announced between Comcast, the nation’s largest cable and broadband company, and Netflix, the popular video streaming service, raises several troubling questions about the future of the Internet.

Under the agreement, Netflix will hook its servers directly to Comcast’s network for an undisclosed fee, cutting out the middlemen that previously connected the companies together. The companies claim the deal will not give Netflix “preferential network treatment.” In other words, they are saying that it will not violate what is popularly known as “net neutrality:” the principle that broadband companies should treat all Internet data equally, without blocking or discriminating against certain types of content. But it’s hard to imagine that Netflix would strike a deal with Comcast if it didn’t get something of value in return. The big question is what did it get and how will that affect other companies on the Internet? Unfortunately, it’s hard to answer that question because the companies have disclosed little about their agreement -- their joint statement was just two paragraphs long.

That is why Federal Communications Commission and the antitrust division of the Department of Justice should ask the companies to provide more details.

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