What's on the agenda for policymakers.
Agenda
Agenda Day One: Economic Inclusion
Monday October 28th
Goals
- Goals - Engage participants in
- Developing a statewide network of diverse cross-sector teams in low- and moderate-income NH communities, from banking, education, philanthropy, housing and workforce development, to identify and address obstacles to economic inclusion in NH.
Just a few years ago Silicon Valley could do no wrong and tech companies were highly celebrated for their amazing products and services that had been previously unimaginable. Now, for some, this utopian vision has turned sharply dystopian.
Rightly or wrongly, tech companies are being vilified and held responsible for a host of ills, including abuse of market power, privacy violations, political bias, hate speech, and even terrorism and murder.
For tech, it's all hard problems now
The tech industry spent the last two decades connecting the world and getting computers into every home and hand — but that's turning out to have been the easy part. Now, every problem tech companies face is fiendishly hard. Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Apple have entered a world where their product innovations and profit margins are beginning to matter less than their ability to navigate treacherous political, social, and ethical rapids. Policymakers and engineers are both accustomed to making and living with tradeoffs, but someone has to make a final call over where these choices land.
Funding to Close the Digital Divide
Telecommunications and utility groups are urging congressional appropriators to continue investing in rural broadband in fiscal year 2020. “The health and productivity of the people we represent throughout rural America are dependent on access to high-quality broadband,” The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association, the Utilities Technology Council and nearly two dozen other groups wrote in a letter to Senate and House appropriators.
Broadband connectivity helps to ensure that local communities are vibrant and successful. In parts of the country that are not fully connected, some communities are creating partnerships with local businesses, health organizations, schools and art groups to solve these challenges. These innovative partnerships leverage existing assets to build new opportunities. Join NTIA’s BroadbandUSA to hear case studies of models that are working to successfully connect Main Street in underserved areas.
Speakers:
Agenda
9:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. Registration
10:00 a.m. - 10:20 a.m. Opening Keynote Remarks by Cristina Rodriguez, Vice President, Data Center Group, General Manager, Wireless Access Network Division, Intel
Net Neutrality Focus Shifts to States, Hill
Broadband providers and virtually everyone else is calling for Congress to finally step in and clarify just what authority the Federal Communications Commission has and should use over internet access. The FCC has to come back to the court with a better justification for its assertion that its deregulatory moves would not adversely affect public safety, pole-attachment regulations and Lifeline broadband subsidies. FCC officials said they had no concerns about providing those explanations.
A push for comprehensive privacy legislation is in full force in Washington, D.C. Aside from the contents of a new law, legislators will need to decide on a key question: who should have the responsibility and power to enforce a new federal privacy standard?
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), charged with policing unfair and deceptive business practices, is currently the primary federal agency responsible for protecting the privacy of commercial data. Additionally, the FTC enforces some specific privacy laws, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the items below are tentatively on the agenda for the October Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Friday, October 25, 2019.