Paul's Web Space 2.1

FCC Hearing on Internet Practices – April 17

On Thursday afternoon, all five commissioners from the Federal Communications Commission will be attending a hearing at Stanford University on the future of the Internet, sponsored by the Stanford Law School Center on Internet and Society. This promises to be a very interesting meeting, especially considering the controversy surrounding a similar meeting they held at MIT a couple months ago.

The hearing is scheduled for 12-7 PM PT / 3-10 PM ET, on Thursday, April 17, and will physically take place at:

Stanford University

Dinkelspiel Auditorium

471 Lagunita Drive

Stanford, CA, 94305

United States

See map: Yahoo! Maps

With only 150 seats available to the public, you'd better get there early to get a seat. Luckily, there are a number of other ways that you can follow the event via the very same Internet:

VON TV will host a free video webcast of the entire proceedings.

The FCC Web site will stream live audio of the hearing as well.

The Free Press Action Network will host live blogging coverage for the duration of the event.

The Cairns blog posted a thoughtful piece explaining the background, with lots of references to the players and the history of this process — Can the FCC Fix the Internet? — so I don't need to repeat it here. I'm hoping to tune in myself, maybe blog some more; I hope you can join me.

Labels: fcc, netneutrality, savetheinternet

   Link: http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/node/5729

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F2C: Freedom to Connect

I'm looking forward to attending F2C: Freedom to Connect 2008, next Monday and Tuesday, March 31 and April 1, 2008, at the AFI Silver Theater in Silver Spring, MD (where I just happen to live). F2C always brings together the most interesting people and projects, all with one goal in mind, making the Internet more useful and powerful for everyone, making it a tool that people can use for whatever purpose, with the maximum capability, while not being limited by business rules set by telecommunications providers nor short-sighted government regulation.

I just received the last pitch email for this conference, so I want to pass along that after tonight, registration cost goes way up. So if you want to experience this stimulating and thought-provoking event in person, sign up today. They will have major WiFi capability, and a live chat online and on screen powered by 37 Signals CamfireNow.com, as well as a webcast for those who wish to simply watch remotely. (But then you also miss out on the truly killer networking that happens there as well.)

The names of the speakers this year are as good as ever, including Susan Crawford, Brad Templeton, Micah Sifry, Tim Wu, Bruce Schneier, Danny O'Brien, Gigi Sohn, Clay Shirky, and many others. As was the case last year, Howard Levy will provide the musical background to program breaks, this year accompanied by Chris Siebold. Should be fun AND informative.

Labels: broadband policy, netneutrality, telecommunications

   Link: http://freedom-to-connect.net/

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Blogging for Net Neutrality

I recently signed up as a blogger for net neutrality with SaveTheInternet.com, so I might as well blog about it. I've long been a supporter of the concept, and signed CPSR on as a charter member of the coalition when it formed a couple years ago. Recently, People for Internet Responsibility has contributed a good technical foundation to the debate, offering a proposal to measure Internet traffic in order to settle debates on net neutrality, and creating a new discussion list covering technical issues, nn-squad.

Some recent developments: U2's manager Paul McGuinness wants ISPs to cut off file sharers, AT&T thinks file sharing is worse than child abuse or terrorism, and a major Canadian ISP tampers with packets to alter web pages delivered to its customers. These developments follow more infamous incidents like Comcast hindering Bittorrent, AT&T censoring anti-Bush lyrics at a Pearl Jam webcast, and Verizon blocked NARAL from using its SMS network to facilitate political organizing.

Stories such as these, combined with a strong bias toward freedom of expression and communication, lead me to my strong belief in the concept of net neutrality. Stay tuned, and consider attending Freedom to Connect in Silver Spring next month.

Labels: blog, blogging, freepress, netneutrality, savetheinternet

   Link: http://www.savetheinternet.com/

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Verizon blocks political TXTs

Today's New York Times reports that Verizon is censoring pro-choice speech using its SMS network. Lots of groups have used this capability to keep members or supporters informed – so far, with little interference from cellphone carriers. No longer.

In his post to the People for Internet Responsibility list, Lauren Weinstein points out that this action calls into question the very notion that we would allow such large and powerful public entities to control political speech in this country. Verizon makes as good a case for Net Neutrality as AT&T did when they censored Eddie Vedder during a Pearl Jam set at Lollapolooza (bleeping anti-bush lyrics he inserted into a song).

MobileActive.org, an organization that has been encouraging the use of mobilt technology for activism worldwide, and has also written about this event, noting that NARAL plans to call on it's members to protest this censorship. In the end, this action can only help the cause of Net Neutrality championed by the likes of SaveTheInternet.com, of which I am a supporter.

Labels: freedomofspeeech, internet, netneutrality, telecommunications, verizon

   Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/business/27cnd-verizon.htm

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Civil society goals for the future of the Internet

Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) discusses his views on the important issues concerning the development of the Internet, as part of OpenLeft's Legislation 2.0 discussion of national broadband policy. He also mentions EPIC's Public Voice project.

Blogged with Flock

Labels: broadband policy, epic, internet, netneutrality, rotenberg, savetheinternet

   Link: http://openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=399

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