August 2014

Federal Communications Commission
Wednesday, September 10, 2014 | 12:30 p.m. – Friday, September 12, 2014 | 11:30 a.m.
FCC release http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2014/db0829/DOC-...
AEI release: http://www.aei.org/events/2014/09/10/regulating-the-evolving-broadband-e...

The ongoing evolution of the broadband ecosystem is changing both the shape of the industry and how we think about regulating it. In mid-September, AEI’s Center for Internet, Communications, and Technology Policy and the University of Nebraska College of Law will cosponsor a three-day conference at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to highlight the latest academic thinking on broadband regulation and to give regulators the opportunity to interact with leading scholars in the field. The conference will feature presentations of seven academic papers, commentary from policy experts and regulators, and plenary sessions. Abstracts of the papers will be available on this page by September 2.

During the first afternoon of the conference, which will be open to the public, senior FCC management and other representatives will review some of the policy challenges that the transition to a ubiquitous Internet protocol–based broadband network poses.

The second and third day will feature presentations of the academic papers in a small-group setting. Although space is quite limited, those wishing to observe the academic discussions should contact guro.ekrann@aei.org by September 3 and will be notified of availability by September 8.

To foster a candid discussion of work in the early stages of development, workshop sessions will be conducted under the Chatham House Rule (participants are free to use information received in the meeting but may not reveal the identity or affiliation of any speaker or other participant, except to the extent required for adherence to the FCC’s ex parte regulations).

Agenda
Wednesday, September 10, 2014

12:00 PM
Registration

12:30 PM
Opening remarks:
Tim Brennan, Federal Communications Commission
Jon Chambers, Federal Communications Commission
Jonathan Levy, Federal Communications Commission

1:30 PM
Keynote I: Broadband regulation across the G7
Richard Bennett, AEI

Discussants:
Robert Crandall, Brookings Institution
Bronwyn Howell, Victoria University

Moderator:
Roslyn Layton, Aalborg University

2:45 PM
Coffee Break

3:00 PM
Keynote II: The digital past as prologue: The combination of active public policy and private investment in the crowning achievement of progressive American capitalism
Mark Cooper, Consumer Federation of America

Discussants:
Harold Furchtgott-Roth, Hudson Institution
Blair Levin, Aspen Institute

Moderator:
Babette Boliek, Pepperdine University

4:15 PM
Keynote III: Past performance does not guarantee future results: Toward a dynamic theory of telecom regulation
Christopher Yoo, University of Pennsylvania

Discussants:
Erik Bohlin, Telecommunications Policy
Gene Kimmelman, Public Knowledge

Moderator:
Gus Hurwitz, University of Nebraska

5:30 PM
Adjournment

Thursday, September 11, 2014

8:45 AM
Continental Breakfast

9:00 AM
Opening remarks:
Jeffrey Eisenach, AEI

9:10 AM
Presentation: Regulatory intervention in Internet service provider interconnection disputes
Robert Frieden, Penn State University

Discussants:
Harold Feld, Public Knowledge
Tom Lenard, Technology Policy Institute

Moderator:
Jeffrey Eisenach, AEI

10:30 AM
Presentation: The perils of Internet interconnection disclosure
Daniel Lyons, Boston College

Discussants:
Mark Jamison, University of Florida
Geoff Manne, International Center for Law and Economics

Moderator:
Bronwyn Howell, Victoria University

12:00 PM
Luncheon discussion: OTT regulation

Discussants:
Lee McKnight, Syracuse University
David Waterman, Indiana University

Moderator:
Gus Hurwitz, University of Nebraska

1:10 PM
Presentation: Government-provided Internet access: Terms of service as speech rules
Enrique Armijo, Elon University

Discussants:
Jason Llorenz, Rutgers University
Randy May, Free State Foundation
Nicole Turner-Lee, Minority Media and Telecommunications Council

Moderator:
James K. Glassman, AEI

2:30 PM
Presentation: The Internet of things and wearable technology
Adam Thierer, Mercatus Center at George Mason University

Discussants:
Janice Hauge, University of North Texas
Kate Matraves, Federal Communications Commission
Will Rinehart, American Action Forum
Moderator:
Bret Swanson, Entropy Economics

3:45 PM
Presentation: The FCC’s Open Internet notice of proposed rulemaking and the close of utility regulation
Adam Candeub, Michigan State University College of Law

Discussants:
Tejas Narechania, Columbia University
Brent Skorup, Mercatus Center at George Mason University

Moderator:
Shane Tews, AEI

5:00 PM
Adjournment

Friday, September 12, 2014

8:30 AM
Continental Breakfast

9:00 AM
Plenary roundtable

11:30 AM
Adjournment



How McDonald's and Corporate America are Bringing Internet Access to Rural America

The benefits of private businesses offering free Wi-Fi are impossible to deny. Access to high-speed Internet has numerous benefits including supporting small business, improving healthcare delivery, and enabling next generation education tools. These types of operations can play a powerful role in helping to make sure that every American has access to high-speed Internet. For many Americans across the country, McDonald’s plugs a gap in the country’s Internet infrastructure. McDonald's provides Wi-Fi free of charge and does not even require that guests purchase food in exchange for using the Internet.

Time to speak up about poor rural phone service

[Commentary] In an age where even kiddies have cellphones and all the world seems “connected,” folks in rural areas are living in a slightly different world of dropped phone calls, calls that don’t ring, garbled sound and static. It’s a nasty side effect of the digital world that has propelled America away from the old world of copper wire and land lines into a new era of massive links of telephone, cellular, wireless and cable. Those links are not necessarily as reliable as the old systems and the pressure to keep costs down is pushing long distance providers and wireless companies to contract with third party “least-cost routing” services to trim expenses. Better oversight and stiffer enforcement by the Federal Communications Commission are needed to remedy the phone ills in rural America.

Genachowski, others now advising President Obama on intelligence

Former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski is joining President Barack Obama’s intelligence advisory board, a small panel that provides counsel on America's spy agencies. The nonpartisan advisory body is comprised of people outside the government and seeks to improve the way intelligence agencies function, including their organizational structure and compliance with the law. Genachowski is among Obama's longest-serving advisers; a classmate of Obama's at Harvard Law School, he was tapped in 2008 to lead the then-senator's tech policy working group during the 2008 presidential campaign. Six others were named to the board including UPS Chairman Scott Davis, former Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairwoman Shirley Ann Jackson and Neal Wolin, the former No. 2 at the Treasury Department.

White House adds names to tech strike team

Mikey Dickerson is in charge of building up the White House’s US Digital Service. One new addition is Erie Meyer, a senior assistant to US chief technology officer Todd Park who helped start technology projects at the Consumer Financial protection Bureau and was named to Forbes’s “30 under 30” list for technology. Another one is Jennifer Anastasoff, founder of a startup that tries to bring business leaders into state and local government. Also on is Vivian Graubard, who led the technology efforts on a presidential task force that resulted in the creation of NotAlone.gov, a website designed to fight back against sexual assault. Software engineer Brian Lefler and Haley Van Dyck, who helped spur major digital plans for the Obama Administration, have also signed up for the team, which is looking to grow to about 25 people.

Everything connected to the Internet, in one map

Programmer and "Internet cartographer" John Matherly created a map that shows where devices are connected to the Internet -- with red indicating a higher density of devices and blue showing less density. It differs pretty substantially from where people are in the world. Much of Sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, is highly populated but remarkably dark on Matherly's map.

New York Flaunts Clout in Review of Comcast Deal

In a test of state clout over megamergers, New York regulators are threatening to disrupt Comcast’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable unless the companies agree to costly concessions. From Albany to Sacramento, the nation’s two biggest cable providers are trying to appease state officials reviewing the deal. While the US government is reviewing the alliance on antitrust grounds, states have authority over cable service on their soil. New York regulators have additional power due to a state law passed this year that requires cable mergers to benefit the public. If a key state such as New York rejects the acquisition, it could lead the companies to abandon the plan. The New York State Public Service Commission is scheduled to vote on Oct. 2, and its staff has recommended the acquisition be approved only if concessions are included that it says would cost Comcast $300 million. The proposals would require a post-merger Comcast to keep jobs in New York, offer faster broadband, improve customer service, expand in rural areas, and ease enrollment standards for a program that offers cheap broadband to poor families.

FCC Publishes Additional Resources Regarding Areas Potentially Eligible For Connect America Funding

The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau and Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis have released an update to the Connect America Phase II – Initial Eligible Areas Map, in order to assist parties interested in determining the eligibility of areas for Connect America funding. The update incorporates a feature to download geospatial files for a selected Census Tract, or County. The downloaded file is specifically for use with desktop mapping software to display eligible census blocks, which should help users investigate potential areas for rural broadband experiments and assist parties participating in the Phase II challenge process.

ABC's Diversity Push: Can It Put the Network Back on Top?

Every network says it celebrates diversity. But ABC is going harder than any other broadcaster this season, airing three comedies in which race isn't just in the background, but right out front. Why now? It's a mix of demographics, ratings, trying to do the right thing, and the awesome success of Shonda Rhimes. In the 2014-15 season, the creator of ABC's biggest dramas, “Grey's Anatomy” and “Scandal,” will be responsible for the network's entire Thursday primetime lineup.

The Changing Nature of Privacy Practice

[Commentary] In a sense, today’s uncharted territory brings privacy protection full circle.

When Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis wrote their seminal article on the right to privacy, they inferred the right from the common law. One of the main lines of authority they looked to was the law of implied trust -- the principle that one entrusted with confidential information owes a duty to the person whose information it is. Trust law separates legal ownership, custody and control of an asset from its benefit and imposes on the trustee duties to protect the interests of the beneficial owner and avoid self-dealing. These principles resonate anew today, when trust is an essential feature in a digital world. Trust in this broad sense can find a touchstone in the intuitive principles of the common law. Those who collect information need to act as stewards of data; they owe duties to those from whom the information comes to put the interests of the beneficiaries first and use data in ways that benefit the latters' interests and not in ways that can cause them harm. Trust law developed the benchmark of “the prudent man” (in those days, they were all men), a person imbued with good judgment. Managers of privacy increasingly are called on to exercise this sort of judgment over a broad range of issues.