Upcoming event

Antitrust enforcement traditionally has been a liability regime in which companies and the government seek compensation in courts for injuries following anticompetitive conduct. Antitrust in the United States has predominantly remained an enforcement mechanism instead of the more administrative systems of enforcing competition laws such as the ones in Europe. However, critics of the judicial process’s complexity, length, and costs expressed concerns with traditional antitrust enforced through courts.

Reception and Program

Featuring an interview with House Majority Whip James Clyburn and Mignon Clyburn, former Acting Chairwoman and Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission and Benton board member

Awarding the Broadband Emerging Leader Award to Kathryn de Wit, Project Director, Broadband Access Initiative, The Pew Charitable Trusts

With dozens of low latency applications and high bandwidth services on the horizon, networks will need to continue to evolve to meet the needs of consumers in the coming decade.  What is the best path for operators to update their networks? What are the must have technologies and functionalities that must be implemented to provide the most scalability and flexibility? And when will we be technically ready for a converged future where consumers are able to have one broadband plan for all of their needs?

Agenda

• Facilitating Access to Spectrum for Offshore Uses and Operations
  The Commission considered a Notice of Inquiry seeking comment on whether changes in the Commission’s rules and policies are needed to facilitate the development of commercial and private wireless networks offshore. (WT Docket No. 22-204)
• Improving Wireless 911 Call Routing
  

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced that the items below are tentatively on the agenda for the May Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, May 19, 2022. The FCC will consider:

At this meeting, the Consumer Advisory Committee will hear from the FCC Chairwoman and Commissioners {invited} and FCC staff regarding matters of interest to consumers and will consider and vote on a Recommendation regarding Consumer Broadband Labels.

In The Tech That Comes Next: How Changemakers, Philanthropists, and Technologists Can Build An Equitable World, authors Afua Bruce and Amy Sample Ward make an argument for the inherent links between technology and equity, and how you can help shift our collective relationship to technology and how it is produced and disseminated. The authors, two leaders from the field of equitable design in technology, ask the big questions that help inform both what needs to change in tech and how all of us can make change.

The hearing will feature multiple panels comprised of consumers, experts from nonprofit organizations, and academics. The hearing will focus on how to make the broadband labels useful, with an emphasis on what specific information consumers need. The hearing will also highlight research on how consumers interpret information and make informed decisions.

The FCC invites questions in advance of or during the hearing by sending an email to BroadbandLabelsHearing@fcc.gov