The 2015 Technology Policy Institute Aspen Forum begins this Sunday, August 16 and runs through August 18. The signature event will once again offer thoughtful discussion on topics impacting the information and technology industries. Discussion panels, working groups and keynotes include, in addition to the above, such timely topics as global aspects of internet regulation, the expansion of universal service funds to broadband, network neutrality, intellectual property and competition policy, and a host of others. Registration is still open and can be performed on the TPI website.
Press Releases
U.S. Cybersecurity Coordinator Michael Daniel to Kick Off TPI Aspen Forum
Technology Policy Institute’s 2015 Aspen Forum opening reception next Sunday evening will include a lively conversation between Michael Daniel, White House Cybersecurity Coordinator, and Alan Raul, Sidley Austin LLP partner and former Vice Chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.
Government-Held Spectrum Necessary for Wireless Broadband Growth
Freeing up more federal government spectrum – potentially the largest source of additional spectrum for wireless broadband – requires a combination of administrative/budgetary and market mechanisms, stated Thomas Lenard in testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation for the hearing, “Wireless Broadband and the Future of Spectrum Policy.” In addition, he noted, spectrum licensed for mobile satellite services (MMS) is the largest block of available spectrum in the short run.
TPI Aspen Forum Panel: Congress and the FCC after Title II
Once upon a time, opinions on telecommunications policy, while divisive, did not generally split along political party lines. That has been steadily changing, as best exemplified by the FCC’s Open Internet Order. But as one analyst recently observed, “we would all be well served to engage these questions [of net neutrality and Title II reclassification] as questions of economics rather than morality plays about good and evil.” So what do the economics imply about these issues and why do policymakers draw different conclusions from economic analysis? Will Congress be satisfied to wait until the courts render their verdicts on the Order, or is there a sense that Congress no longer believes the agency reflects its general preferences and therefore will force changes? Participants in the panel “Congress and the FCC after Title II” will discuss these and other issues at the 2015 TPI Aspen Forum.
Has Uber Forced Taxi Drivers to Step Up Their Game?
During a taxi ride late one night a few years ago, a cabbie started berating me for asking him to drive the 25 minutes from downtown D.C. to my home in Maryland. At the time, I thought to myself, At least he took me. In the past, some drivers had simply refused. And, like many other cab riders, I came to expect that his cab’s credit-card machine would be mysteriously “broken” when it came time to pay.
TPI Aspen Forum Panel Universal Service: Towards Broadband, Efficiency and Equity
The Universal Service Fund, originally intended to subsidize voice communications for rural and low-income consumers, is steadily transitioning to focus on broadband. In 2011, the High-Cost Fund became the “Connect America” Fund and began to subsidize rural broadband. This year, the White House announced the “ConnectED” program, which increased funding to the Schools and Libraries E-Rate program. And the FCC is currently considering how the Lifeline program can subsidize broadband, rather than voice, connections for low-income people and whether to make subsidies available to even more rural providers.
Free Markets and Rural Universal Service
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Ajit Pai raised an important issue when he decried the incomprehensible state of our rural universal service funding in a speech and op-ed article in Nebraska. However, despite claiming that “The Internet is the greatest free-market innovation in history”… Pai eschews free-market principles in his proposal to modernize the rural universal service subsidy program to promote broadband Internet access.
Aspen Forum Registration Discount Extended through July 4th Weekend
Discounted registration for the Technology Policy Institute Aspen Forum has been extended through Tuesday, July 7th to accommodate the upcoming holiday weekend. The discount of $500 off the regular registration fee is available for industry and trade association attendees.