State of the Net: Where technology meets public policy
During the State of the Net conference today, House Communications & Internet Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher told an audience that he intends to create a bill that attempts to establish a national standard for protecting wireless consumers.
He told an audience at the Congressional Internet Caucus State of the Net conference in Washington Wednesday that the wireless industry was the "poster child" for a national set of standards that would in turn provide protections for Internet users.
He pointed out that a cell phone or PDA user could be living in one state, work in another and carry on most of his use while on the road. "So, for millions of users I think it is very hard to determine which state has the greatest relevance in establishing consumer protection rights for that user."
Boucher is just one of many policy and tech professionals who have been attending the State of the Net conference both yesterday and today. Held at the Hyatt Regency, Capitol Hill, the conference is, according to its website, "the largest information technology policy conference in the US, attracting over 550 attendees in 2009." It's organized by the Internet Caucus Advisory Committee and this year has featured keynotes from Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts and from Howard Schmidt, the incoming cyber security coordinator for the White House.
During the preconference, FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker addressed many of the elephants in the room, including increasing support for universal broadband adoption.
"The historic questions – of how do we ensure universal service, promote competition, and remove implicit subsidies all at the same time – were hard enough," she said. "But now, how do we ensure universal broadband to all Americans on top of that?"
FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps, also addressed net neutrality and universal broadband issues, contemplating a scenario in which the "Internet, rather than opening doors of opportunity for all, becomes yet another province controlled by, and serving primarily, the elite and affluent while the rest fall even farther behind."
"We have the historic opportunity now to close many of these divides," he said. "Shame on us if we don’t."
Of special interest to Internet safety advocates were be panels like "Cyberwar: Is Congress Preparing for the Common Defense?"; "Clouding Internet Policy"; and "Debating the Framework for Online Privacy."
Panelists include Ari Schwartz, the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Center for Democracy and Technology; Jim Dempsey, Vice President for Public Policy at The Center for Democracy and Technology; Gregory T. Nojeim, a Senior Counsel at the Center for Democracy & Technology; and Jim Lewis, Director and Senior Fellow of the Technology and Public Policy Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.