U.S. Federal Trade Commissioners Noah Joshua Phillips and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter will address current technology policy issues during a panel conversation hosted by the Technology Policy Institute on Wednesday, February 5 in Washington.
“Protecting consumers and promoting competition-the FTC’s dual missions-are central to technology policy,” said TPI President and Senior Fellow Scott Wallsten. “We are fortunate to have Commissioners Philips and Slaughter to explain what issues particularly concern them and what we should and should not do about those issues.”
The moderated discussion and question-and-answer session takes place Wednesday, February 5, 10 -11 am, at TPI’s offices, located at 409 12th Street, SW, in the second-floor conference facility.
Commissioners Slaughter and Phillips were sworn in on May 2, 2018. Their terms expire in 2022 and 2023.
TPI is pleased to announce Bonus Aspen content, open to everyone. We will be joined by Jason Furman, Professor of the Practice of Economics, Harvard and former chair, Council of Economic Advisers, and Joshua Wright, University Professor at Scalia Law School, George Mason University, and executive director Global Antitrust Institute, and former member, Federal Trade Commission, for a debate. Our very own Tom Lenard will moderate.
TPI Digital Regulatory Regime Debate: Bonus Aspen Content Open to All
Be it resolved: We need a new regulatory regime for digital platforms
For the resolution: Jason Furman
Against the resolution: Joshua Wright
Furman and Wright will debate the merits of adopting a new regulatory regime for large digital platforms such as Amazon, Facebook, and Google. Over the last two years, at least four major reports from leading government and academic institutions have recommended proposals for further regulation, some including a new regulatory agency. Perhaps the most prominent of those reports was produced last year by the UK’s Digital Competition Expert Panel chaired by Jason Furman. The basic theme running through all these reports is that aggressive antitrust enforcement is not sufficient to constrain the market power of large digital platforms, and that we therefore need new regulations to supplement antitrust.
In the last several months, the Department of Justice, FTC, and state attorneys general have filed five major complaints against Facebook and Google, the first significant monopolization cases since the Microsoft case. What can we learn from our experience with the Microsoft case as well as other monopolization cases going back to Standard Oil? Given that historical experience, can we expect the current cases to improve consumer welfare? The panel addressed the challenges presented by monopolization cases in these winner-take-all (or most) markets where technologies and market conditions are changing rapidly.
Panelists included:
Robert Crandall, Adjunct Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
Michael Katz, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business and Department of Economics and Sarin Chair in Strategy and Leadership
Diana Moss, President, American Antitrust Institute
Randal Picker, James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago Law School
Thomas Lenard (moderator), President Emeritus and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
Critics of targeted advertising and the advertising business model – the basis of internet platforms like Google and Facebook – have ramped up their attacks recently, in part due to the January 6 riot at the capital. For example, the American Economic Liberties Project, an anti-monopoly group, recommends banning targeted advertising by communications platforms, arguing that the January 6 attack was to a large extent caused by the business models of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. In Europe, the CEO of the German media conglomerate Axel Springer has proposed prohibiting the commercial use of data. And, even aside from the events of January 6, it is frequently asserted that the internet, and particularly social media, are major causes of polarization in the U.S. and elsewhere. The fundamental problem, according to many of these critics, is that these platforms make billions from promoting misinformation, conspiracy theories, and violence.
On the other hand, the advertising-based model has many benefits. It makes it simple for billions of users to access digital platforms. The advertising revenues pay for content that consumers would otherwise have to pay for directly or would not exist. This is especially beneficial for lower-income consumers.
Panelists included:
Congress is currently engaged in a bipartisan effort to enact the first major antitrust legislation in 45 years. A package of six reform proposals, based on the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee’s 2020 report on its “Investigation into Competition in Digital Markets,” were approved by the full Judiciary Committee this past June. Companion bills have also been introduced in the Senate. These bills, which cover a wide range of activities, are all specifically targeted at the leading tech companies.
The panelists discussed the costs and benefits of these proposals and whether they represent good policy or counterproductive measures.
Panel:
QUALIFYING, QUANTIFYING, AND MEETING THE CHALLENGE OF INTERNET ACCESS COSTS
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 13 November 2007
Comcast’s “network management” practices set off a firestorm of controversy, leading to an FCC inquiry and lending support to a new Congressional bill entitled “The Internet Freedom Preservation Act.” Some argue that such management practices are necessary primarily to deal with network congestion created by a small number of users to prevent a worsening of service to everyone else, while others contend that providers can use them to discriminate unfairly against certain types of content. In the FCC public hearing on “Broadband Network Management Practices” on February 25, Chairman Kevin Martin indicated the FCC’s willingness to discourage certain network management practices, but provided little indication what such rules might entail. This panel will evaluate the economic, legal, and engineering aspects of network management based on evidence from the United States and Japan and will discuss the potential impacts of possible proposed regulations.
PANELISTS
Scott Wallsten (moderator), Vice President for Research and Senior Fellow, iGrowthGlobal
Marvin Ammori, General Counsel, Free Press
David Burstein, Editor, DSLPrime
George Ou, Technical Director, ZDNet
Haruka Saito, Counselor for Telecom Policy, Embassy of Japan
Christopher S. Yoo, Professor of Law and Communications, University of Pennsylvania
A Centre for European Policy Studies-Technology Policy Institute Event
The U.S. and Europe appear to be taking different approaches to broadband policy. The U.S. has largely rejected regulations requiring firms to share their infrastructure with competitors in the hopes of creating platform competition. By contrast, Europe has increasingly adopted such regulations in order to create intra-platform competition. In some cases those regulations have gone as far as imposing structural separation—that is, separating the operation, maintenance, and wholesaling of the broadband infrastructure from the retail service to end-users. These differing approaches are likely to affect competition and investment and may have implications for other pressing concerns such as network management and net neutrality.
To discuss these issues, the Technology Policy Institute is hosting a morning conference jointly with the Brussels-based Centre for European Policy Studies. The conference will open with remarks by Ambassador David Gross. A panel of experts from both sides of the Atlantic will then explore the costs and benefits of the different approaches to broadband policy.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Ambassador David A. Gross, U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy
Aryeh Friedman, Senior Regulatory Counsel, BT Americas
Thomas Hazlett, Professor of Law & Economics, George Mason University
Andrea Renda, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for European Policy Studies
Marvin Sirbu, Professor of Engineering and Public Policy, Industrial Administration and Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University
Scott Wallsten, Vice President for Research and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
8:30 a.m.
Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:00 a.m.
Keynote Address: Challenges for a Comprehensive National Electricity Policy
Paul Joskow, President, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
9:45 a.m.
Panel: Electricity Restructuring: Success or Failure?
Thomas Lenard (moderator), President, Technology Policy Institute
Jay Apt, Executive Director, Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center, Distinguished Service Professor, Engineering and Public Policy
Presentation
Tim Brennan, Professor of Public Policy and Economics, University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future
Referenced Paper
Tim Mount, Professor of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University
Presentation
Nancy Rose, Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
11:00 a.m.
Panel: The Supply Challenge: How Can We Meet It?
Scott Wallsten (moderator), Vice President for Research, Technology Policy Institute
Tom Fanning, Chief Operating Officer, Southern Company
Howard Gruenspecht, Deputy Administrator, Energy Information Administration
William Hogan, Raymond Plank Professor of Global Energy Policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
David Owens, Executive Vice President, Edison Electric Institute
12:30 p.m.
Lunch: Energy Policy: The View from the Presidential Campaign
Kenneth Berlin, Senior Campaign Advisor for Energy and Environmental Policy, Obama campaign
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Chief Domestic Policy Advisor, McCain campaign
2:00 p.m.
Panel: The Intersection of Telecommunications and Electricity Markets – New Technologies for Meeting Energy Needs
Ray Gifford (moderator), Chairman, Technology Policy Institute, Partner, Kamlet Shepherd, former Chairman, Colorado PUC
Walter Curt, Owner, Power Monitors Inc.
Kathryn C. Brown, Senior Vice President for Public Policy Development and Corporate Responsibility, Verizon
Jim Ferland, Senior Vice President, PNM Resources
Network Neutrality
The Internet is a communication platform that allows end-users to access content and content providers to connect with customers. This platform is multi-sided, meaning that incentives to invest and innovate in one side affect the others. Different aspects make network neutrality highly complex and frequently debated issue. While net neutrality has no single definition, in most general terms, net neutrality questions the right of network operators to deliver certain data packets faster than others based on the type of application, source and nature of content, and other criteria.
Network neutrality proponents contend that it is crucial for maintaining content innovation and diversity. Opponents counter such rules are unnecessary, can reduce investment in broadband infrastructure, and paradoxically may even reduce the incentives to develop certain applications in the future. The key point is if any regulations dictating how networks operate are likely to have broad effects beyond those the rules are intended to address, affecting incentives to invest in infrastructure and content.
Network neutrality has been debated in the United States for several years and is emerging as a major issue in Europe. The importance of this issue for the developing world and its possible effect on digital divide is often neglected: the Internet and broadband in particular, are much less widespread in poorer countries than in richer ones.
Maintaining incentives to invest in local Internet infrastructure and content remain crucial in developing countries if the Internet is to fulfill its promise in promoting economic growth and freedom of expression. At the same time, would explicitly allowing packet prioritization and new pricing models convey additional market power to a small number of incumbent companies, further disadvantaging consumers in developing countries?
This panel will discuss the economics and engineering aspects of networks and how network neutrality regulations might affect those investments. The workshop also aims at examining implications to the digital divide, by bringing different perspectives of the problem to the audience, and listening to their opinions.
The goal of the session is to discuss the implications of this debate and its outcomes to the developing word. It aims at raising awareness among the representatives of developing countries and encouraging them to get involved in the global debate in order to bring a strong emphasis on the perspective of the Global South.
Co-Organizers
DiploFoundation (www.diplomacy.edu) has been actively involved in the Internet Governance process since WSIS 2003 in Geneva. Over 500 professionals from over 70 developing countries were trained online and in-situ in Internet Governance Policy – issues, actors and processes – by DiploFoundation. Members of this worldwide community of professionals, representing global, regional and local stakeholders – governmental institutions as well as civil society, non-government organizations, business sector, media, academy and international organizations – have made remarkable policy and field-work in various IG-related issues, including Network neutrality. While few associates were invited as speakers of this panel, many more will participate actively as the audience.
Technology Policy Institute (www.techpolicyinstitute.org) is a non-profit research and education foundation that focuses on the economics of innovation, technological change, and related regulation in the United States and around the world. Its mission is to advance knowledge and inform policymakers by producing independent, rigorous research and by sponsoring educational programs and conferences on major issues affecting information technology and communications policy. TPI organized an Access Workshop session at the 2007 IGF.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Ambassador David Gross, U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy
Robert Guerra, Privaterra
Jovan Kurbalija, DiploFoundation
Thomas Lenard, Technology Policy Institute
Payal Malik, LIRNEasia / NCAER
Virginia Paque, United Nations Association of Venezuela / DiploFoundation
Robert Pepper, Cisco
Vladimir Radunovic, DiploFoundation
How best to include broadband in an economic stimulus package depends, in part, on understanding two critical issues: how broadband affects economic growth, and how the credit crisis has affected broadband investment. In particular, one might favor aggressive government intervention if broadband stimulates growth and investment is now lagging. Alternatively, money might be better spent elsewhere if the effects on growth are smaller than commonly believed or private investment is continuing despite the crisis.
This Congressional Seminar will feature the latest academic research on the links between broadband and economic growth as well as analyst and industry perspectives on how the financial crisis has affected broadband investment.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Scott J. Wallsten (moderator), Senior Fellow and Vice President for Research, Technology Policy Institute
James Assey, Executive Vice President for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association
Robert Crandall, Senior Fellow in Economic Studies, The Brookings Institution
Shane Greenstein, Elinor and Wendell Hobbs Professor of Management and Strategy at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Chris King, Principal/Senior Telecom Services Analyst, Stifel Nicolaus Telecom Equity Research
Christoph Steck, Director of Public Policy, Telefónica
On Thursday, February 22, 2018, the Technology Policy Institute hosted an all-day conference featuring nine new research papers on the economics and policy implications of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
“Terminator or the Jetsons? The Economics and Policy Implications of Artificial Intelligence” will cover a wide range of topics in depth, including prediction versus judgment and the limits of AI-led prediction; the relationship between AI and wages; using AI to analyze labor markets; AI and machine learning at central banks and in macroeconomic forecasting; algorithms; AI’s use in reducing errors in health care provision; and the effects of AI in the judicial system.
AGENDA
8:45 – 9:00 am Welcome Remarks
Scott Wallsten, President and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
9:00 – 10:30 am Algorithms and Decision-Making
Joshua Gans, Skoll Chair of Technical Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto:
Exploring the Impact of Artificial Intelligence: Prediction Versus Judgment
(Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, & Avi Goldfarb)
Gans_Prediction-TPI-18-02-20
Jeff Prince, Professor and Chairperson, Business Economics and Public Policy, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University:
A Paradigm for Assessing the Scope and Performance of Predictive Analytics
Prince_TPI-2018
Do Algorithms Rule the World? Algorithmic Decision-making and Data Protection in the Framework of the GDRP and Beyond
Brkan.Washington.2018
Discussant: Cleotilde (Coty) Gonzalez, Research Professor, Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University and Founding Director, Dynamic Decision Making Laboratory
10:30 – 10:45 am Coffee break
10:45 am -12:00 pm Macroeconomics and Central Banking
Andreas Joseph, Research Economist, Advanced Analytics Division, Bank of England:
Joseph-machine-learning-at-central-banks
(Chiranjit Chakraborty & Andreas Joseph)
Nicolas Woloszko, Junior Economist, OECD-OCDE:
Adaptive Trees: A Novel Approach to Macroeconomic Forecasting
Macroeconomic-forecasting-with-machine-learning-TPI
Discussant: Sarah Oh, Research Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
12:00 – 1:00 pm Lunch – Fireside Chat
Rep. John Delaney (D-MD-6), Co-chair, Congressional AI Committee
Kim Hart, Technology Editor, Axios
1:15 – 1:55 pm Autonomous Vehicles
Andrew Whinston, Hugh Roy Cullen Centennial Chair in Business Administration, Professor of Information Systems, Computer Science and Economics, John Newton Centennial IC2 Fellow, and Director, Center for Research in Electronic Commerce, University of Texas at Austin:
Routing for Heterogeneous Autonomous Vehicles
(Yixuan Liu & Andrew Whinston)
Whinston_AutonomousVehicle_Final
2:00 – 2:40 pm Health
Miguel Paredes, Director, Center for Advanced Analytics:
Paredes-Can-Artificial-Intelligence-help-reduce-human-medical-errors-DRAFT
2:45 – 4:20 pm Labor Markets
Anton Korinek, Assistant Professor in Economics, Johns Hopkins University:
Artificial Intelligence and Its Implications for Income Distribution and Unemployment
Kornek_AI_Inequality(Anton Korinek & Joseph E. Stiglitz)
Korinek_TPI_AI
Emilio Colombo, Professor of Economics, Catholic University of Milan:
Colombo_paper
(Emilio Colombo, Fabio Mercorio & Mario Mezzanzanica)
Colombo_Applying-machine-learning-tools-on-web-vacanciesDiscussant: Ted To, Research Economist, Bureau of Labor Statistics
4:30 pm Adjorn
Video of this event is available here, also check out past events on our YouTube channel.
Immigration is a contentious issue, particularly in an economic downturn. But even now, employers in critical sectors ranging from information technology to finance are seeking highly skilled immigrants. These workers are in limited supply because foreign applicants face stringent caps on green cards and temporary work visas. Legislators and other policy makers need to make decisions on this issue on the basis of the overall effects of high-skilled immigrants on economic growth and innovation, the wages and employment of domestic workers, and the effects on government budgets, which are less well understood.
The Technology Policy Institute is releasing a new paper on the fiscal effects of immigration by Senior Fellow Arlene Holen and is hosting a conference to help inform immigration policy.
This event and TPI’s work on immigration are supported by a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
The Honorable Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Chair, Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives
Stuart Anderson, Executive Director, National Foundation for American Policy
Robert Atkinson, President, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Arlene Holen, Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
Thomas M. Lenard, President, Technology Policy Institute
Vin O’Neill, Senior Legislative Representative, IEEE-USA
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has operated under agreements with the U.S. Department of Commerce since 1998. The current agreement expires later this year. ICANN would like to be fully “privatized,” but that decision raises significant questions about ICANN’s structure, mission, and performance. Does ICANN’s governance structure provide sufficient accountability? How should reforms address ICANN’s status as a de facto regulator? How should reforms address the intellectual property issues associated with domain names? This conference will discuss these issues and a recent TPI study on the subject coauthored by TPI president Thomas Lenard and NYU Stern School of Business economics professor Lawrence J. White.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Michael Abramowicz, George Washington University Law School
Stanley Besen, CRA International
Steve DelBianco, NetChoice
Arlene Holen, Technology Policy Institute
Thomas Lenard, Technology Policy Institute
Paul Levins, ICANN
John Mayo, Georgetown University McDonough School of Business
Gregory Rosston, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Scott Wallsten, Technology Policy Institute
Lawrence J. White, NYU Stern School of Business
The debate over broadband policy transcends national boundaries and has become even more important in the current economic environment as the financial crisis leads the U.S. to include broadband in its economic stimulus efforts and the EU to consider something similar. Since the mid-1990s information and communications technologies have contributed substantially to economic growth, productivity improvements, and, thus, higher living standards on both sides of the Atlantic.
As a result, broadband policy cannot be viewed as just a “regulatory” or a “telecom” issue, but also as one that interacts significantly with the broader macro-economy. In particular, the broader economy affects broadband investment and adoption and vice-versa. The current financial crisis and the industry interact in two important ways.
First, broadband infrastructure is very capital intensive, meaning that changes in credit markets can have big effects on investment. In the current crisis, tight credit markets and the high cost of capital mean that investors may require a higher expected rate of return on their investments than they did in the recent past. Second, broadband has given consumers new ways to react to the economic downturn and to help restore growth that were not possible in any previous recessions, ranging from searching for jobs online to new avenues for entrepreneurship.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Michael Bartholomew, European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association
Marc Bourreau, Paristech
Gilles Delaunay, MICUS Management Consulting
Martin Fornefeld, MICUS Management Consulting
Norbert Gaal, DG Competition, European Commission
Raul Katz, Columbia University
Tom Kiedrowski, Ofcom
Thomas Lenard, Technology Policy Institute
Andrea Renda, CEPS
Scott Wallsten, Technology Policy Institute
Congress is writing major climate change legislation that includes a cap-and-trade program as well as renewable electricity and efficiency mandates. Cap-and-trade represents a market-based approach designed to leave choices about least-cost ways of achieving climate-change policy goals to individual producers and consumers. Renewable electricity and efficiency standards prescribe specific approaches. Are these policies consistent with each other? How should they be combined? TPI has assembled a group of experts to discuss these issues at the event “Climate Change, Cap-and-Trade, Renewable Electricity and Efficiency Mandates: How Do They Fit Together.”
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Tim Brennan, Resources for the Future and UMBC
Rob Gramlich, AWEA
Lester Lave, Carnegie Mellon University
Thomas Lenard, Technology Policy Institute
Scott Wallsten, Technology Policy Institute
The Obama Administration is increasingly looking at approaches other countries have taken as it continues to formulate its broadband strategy. This Congressional Seminar will address key questions of how the U.S. broadband market is developing, how competition in the U.S. compares to elsewhere, and how various policy prescriptions, such as open access and functional separation, would be likely to affect investment.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Harold Feld, Public Knowledge
David Hill, Verizon
Michael Katz, Leonard Stern School of Business, New York University
William Lehr, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Scott Wallsten, Technology Policy Institute
Joseph W. Waz, Jr., Comcast Corporation
The universal service program is coming under increasing pressure: expenditures for old-fashioned voice service, especially in the high-cost fund, are growing rapidly even as many policymakers are calling for the fund to also include broadband. Even without including broadband, consumers are already paying higher taxes for these increased expenditures. This seminar will address questions of how to reform the fund, including ways of controlling growth in the high-cost fund, such as reverse auctions, and how to incorporate broadband in an efficient and equitable manner.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Howie Hodges, Senior Vice President, Business Development and Government Affairs, One Economy
Thomas Lenard, President and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
Jonathan E. Nuechterlein, Partner, WilmerHale
F.J. Pollak, President and CEO, TracFone Wireless, Inc.
Gregory Rosston, Deputy Director, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Scott Wallsten, Vice President for Research and Development, Technology Policy Institute
Online advertising uses customer information to target messages to consumers’ interests. The resulting advertising revenues support an array of innovative new online services, which consumers can often use for free. But as the use of information online has increased, so have concerns about privacy. More privacy, however, would mean less information, less valuable advertising, and thus fewer resources available for producing new low-priced services. It is this tradeoff that Congress needs to take into account as it considers new privacy legislation. TPI has assembled a group of experts to discuss how policy makers should address the tradeoffs inherent in privacy policy.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Alessandro Acquisti, Associate Professor of Information Technology and Public Policy, Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University
Alan Davidson, Director, Public Policy and Government Affairs, Google
Leslie Harris, President and CEO, Center for Democracy and Technology
Thomas Lenard, President, Technology Policy Institute
Gerard Lewis, Vice President, Deputy General Counsel & Chief Privacy Officer, Comcast Cable
Paul H. Rubin, Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute, and Dobbs Professor of Economics and Law, Emory University
British MP Ian Liddell-Grainger will present a new bi-partisan Report of the All-Party Parliamentary Taxation Group that examines the UK’s experience with “return-free” tax filing, under which the tax authority prepares individuals’ income tax returns. Mr. Liddell-Grainger’s presentation will be discussed by former Congressman Bill Frenzel, George Washington University economist Joseph Cordes, and Brookings economist William Gale. Frenzel, currently a Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution, was ranking minority member on the House Budget Committee and a member of the President’s Advisory Panel on Tax Reform during 2005. Cordes has held senior positions at both the Treasury Department and the CBO. Gale is co-director of the Urban-Brookings tax policy center.
Return-free filing is a timely issue, because the Volcker task force on tax reform is expected to consider return-free filing as one of its tax simplification recommendations. Advocates point to hours saved by tax filers in preparing forms and gathering documents and in reduced payments to tax preparers. Critics worry about the potential for new burdens on taxpayers, employers, and the IRS, as well as reduced transparency of the tax code.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Ian Liddell-GraingerMP, Chairman, All-Party Parliamentary Taxation Group
Joseph Cordes, George Washington University
William Frenzel, Brookings Institution
William Gale, Brookings Institution
Arlene Holen, Technology Policy Institute
The expansion of wireless broadband is a bright spot in the U.S. economy, but a shortage of liberally licensed spectrum rights could put a crimp on this expansion. The freeing up of spectrum from other uses would allow greater expansion of wireless broadband and would bring substantial gains—likely in the hundreds of billions of dollars—for U.S. consumers, businesses, and the federal treasury. Developing a plan to increase the amount of spectrum for wireless broadband is a high priority of the FCC’s Omnibus Broadband Initiative, which is developing a national broadband plan. Failure to allocate sufficient spectrum will slow the rollout of broadband services, increase their prices, and cost consumers and taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. TPI has assembled a panel of experts to discuss the options.
Questions should be directed to Ashley Creel at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Phil Bellaria, FCC, Omnibus Broadband Initiative
Kathleen Ham, T-Mobile
Matthew Hussey, Senator Snowe
Evan Kwerel, Federal Communications Commission
Thomas M. Lenard, Technology Policy Institute
Kevin Werbach, Wharton School
Lawrence J. White, NYU Stern School of Business
The Technology Policy Institute and the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy are hosting a half-day event on March 23rd on the FCC’s newly announced National Broadband Plan. Experts from industry, academia and government will share their reaction to the Plan in two panel discussions focusing on the effects of the Plan on both investment and broadband penetration. The event will feature a keynote from Blair Levin, Executive Director of the FCC’s Omnibus Broadband Initiative.
Questions should be directed to Ashley Creel at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Robert Crandall, Brookings Institution
James Cicconi, AT&T
Blair Levin, Executive Director, Omnibus Broadband Initiative, Federal Communications Commission
Thomas Lenard, Technology Policy Institute
John Mayo, Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy
Walter McCormick, USTelecom
Kyle McSlarrow, National Cable and Telecommunications Association
Peter Pitsch, Intel
Lee Rainie, Pew Internet and America Life Project
Gregory Rosston, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Robert Shapiro, Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy
Thomas Tauke, Verizon
Joseph Waz, Comcast
The Technology Policy Institute and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research are co-hosting “The National Broadband Plan: Economics, Politics and Policy,” a full-day conference scheduled for June 9th at Stanford University. Presentations and panel discussions will focus on such topics as broadband competition and demand, the effect of broadband deployment on economic development, spectrum allocation, and how recent events concerning the FCC’s jurisdiction over broadband could impact implementation of the National Broadband Plan.
To register for the event and for more information, please contact Dafna Baldwin at [email protected] Media can contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected] or Michelle Mosman at 650-725-1872. Rooms are available at the Sheraton Palo Alto at a special rate until June 2nd. Please contact the hotel directly at (650) 328-2800 or [email protected] and reference the SIEPR “Broadband Conference” to receive the discount rate.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Rod Beckstrom, Chief Executive Officer, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
Yale Braunstein, Professor, School of Information, University of California, Berkeley
Tim Bresnahan, Landau Professor in Technology and the Economy and Director of the Center on Employment and Economic Growth, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Jeff Campbell, Senior Director, Technology and Trade Policy, Cisco
Thomas Dombrowsky, Engineering Consultant, Wiley Rein LLP
Shane Greenstein, Elinor and Wendell Hobbs Professor of Management and Strategy, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
“Evidence of a Modest Price Decline in US Broadband Services”
Dale Hatfield, Adjunct Professor, Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program at the University of Colorado, Boulder
Carlos Kirjner, Former Senior Adviser to the Chairman on Broadband, Federal Communications Commission
Jed Kolko, Associate Director and Research Fellow, Public Policy Institute of California
“Does Broadband Boost Local Economic Development?”
Evan Kwerel, Senior Economic Adviser, Federal Communications Commission
Thomas Lenard, President, Technology Policy Institute
Roger Noll, Professor of Economics, Emeritus and Co-Director, Program on Regulatory Policy, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Bruce Owen, Morris M. Doyle Centennial Professor in Public Policy, Director of the Public Policy Program, and Gordon Cain Senior Fellow at SIEPR, Stanford University
Charla Rath, Vice President, Public Policy, Verizon
Gregory Rosston, Senior Research Scholar and Deputy Director, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
“Household Demand for Broadband Internet Service”
Scott Wallsten, Senior Fellow and Vice President for Research, Technology Policy Institute
“Residential Broadband Competition in the United States”
Joe Waz, Senior Vice President, External Affairs and Public Policy Counsel, Comcast
Rick Whitt, Senior Policy Director, Google
On March 9, 2022, the White House released an Executive Order, Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets, in which President Biden directed federal agencies to produce over a dozen studies and reports over the next 3 to 6 months. Of concern to the President are central bank digital currency (CBDC), illicit finance, international engagement, and financial stability. In this virtual panel, experts in crypto regulation will give their takes on how the EO will shape digital asset policy in the United States and whether these regulatory efforts will be good or bad for the crypto industry and the broader economy.
Panelists:
A joint seminar of the Centre for European Policy Studies and the Technology Policy Institute
The Technology Policy Institute and the Centre for European Policy Studies are co-hosting “Internet Governance and ICANN: Emerging Policy Issues,” an event scheduled for June 18th at CEPS in Brussels. The conference will feature discussion on issues stemming from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ (ICANN) newly established operating structure under the Affirmation of Commitments. Topics will include ICANN accountability under the AoC, the role of the Internet Governance Forum and other international organizations, freedom of expression issues, and economic issues associated with the domain name system.
Participants in the event will include academics and other experts on ICANN policy issues.
To register for the event, scheduled for 10:00am to 1:00pm at CEPS, 1 Place du Congres, Brussels, please visit www.ceps.eu or contact Christopher Napoli at [email protected]
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
R. Shawn Gunnarson, attorney at Kirton & McConkie and specializes in information technology and telecommunications issues. He is the author of an upcoming paper on accountability and transparency issues concerning ICANN. His Policy Paper can be viewed here.
Thomas Lenard, President and Senior Fellow at the Technology Policy Institute. Lenard is the author or co-author of numerous books and articles on telecommunications, electricity, antitrust, privacy, e-commerce and other regulatory issues. He is co-author of the paper “ICANN at a Crossroads: A Proposal for Better Governance and Performance” with New York University Professor Lawrence White.
Milton L. Mueller, Professor at School of Information Studies, Syracuse University, and a XS4All Professor at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. He is is the author of various books and articles on Internet governance issues, including, “Ruling the Root: Internet Governance and the Taming of Cyberspace,” and “Disrupting Global Governance: The Internet Whois Service, ICANN and Privacy.” His Policy Paper can be viewed here.
Andrea Renda, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), and currently manages the CEPS Regulatory Affairs Programme. Renda is also the Rapporteur of the CEPS Task Forces on Electronic Communications, as well as the CEPS Task Forces on innovation policy, competition policy and critical infrastructure protection, and is the author of numerous papers on communications and competition issues.
Lawrence J. White, Arthur E. Imperatore Professor of Economics, at New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business, is a recognized expert on antitrust and competition issues in network industries. He is also the co-author of the paper “ICANN at a Crossroads: A Proposal for Better Governance and Performance” with TPI President Thomas Lenard, which can be viewed here. You may also view his Presentation here.
From blogs to Facebook profiles to Twitter messages, individuals are increasingly choosing to share information about themselves online. More personal information online brings both risks and rewards. How are companies using this digital information and how do consumers benefits from increased data sharing? Perhaps more importantly, do consumers have enough control over their personal information or is there a need for government regulators to step in?
Join the Technology Policy Institute and the Information Technology and Innovation for a wide-ranging discussion on online privacy issues and the current privacy legislation before Congress.
Questions should be directed to Ashley Creel at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Robert D. Atkinson, President, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Daniel Castro, Senior Analyst, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Mark Eichorn, Assistant Director, Federal Trade Commission
Fernando Laguarda, Vice President, Time Warner Cable
Thomas Lenard, President and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
Tim Sparapini, Director of Public Policy, Facebook
Daniel J. Weitzner, Associate Administrator for the Office of Policy Analysis and Development, National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Antitrust enforcement in technology industries is complex, in part because the sector is characterized by more or less continuous innovation. The global nature of the sector, combined with oversight by multiple enforcement agencies, also presents its own unique issues for antitrust policy. Given these complexities, how can antitrust policy be formulated to promote innovation in these dynamic sectors?
Please join the Technology Policy Institute for a half-day event on antitrust policy in the technology sector on October 22 at the Ronald Reagan Building. The event is part of the TPI project “Maintaining U.S. Leadership in Information and Communications Technology: Antitrust and the Dynamics of Competition in ‘New Economy’ Industries.” Academic experts will discuss their papers prepared for the project on such topics as recent enforcement actions, vertical integration, and antitrust implications for cloud computing.
Questions should be directed to Ashley Creel at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Timothy Brennan, Professor, Public Policy and Economics University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future
Robert Crandall, Senior Fellow, Economic Studies, Brookings Institution and
Joseph Farrell, Director, Bureau of Economics, Federal Trade Commission
Charles Jackson, Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering, George Washington University
Antitrust in High-Tech Industries: The Three Major Recent Monopolization Cases
Thomas Lenard, President and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
Bruce Owen, Director, Public Policy Program, Stanford University and Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Antitrust and Vertical Integration in “New Economy” Industries
Michael Salinger, Professor/Everett W. Lord Distinguished Faculty Scholar, Markets, Public Policy and Law, Boston University School of Management
Carl Shapiro, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economics, U.S. Department of Justice
Scott Wallsten, Vice President Vice President for Research and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
Joshua Wright, Associate Professor of Law, George Mason University Law School
Does Antitrust Enforcement in High Tech Markets Benefit Consumers? Stock Price Evidence from FTC v. Intel
Christopher Yoo, Professor of Law, Communication, and Computer and Information Science and Director, Center for Technology, Innovation, and Competition, University of Pennsylvania Law School
Cloud Computing: Architectural and Policy Implications
While the popularity of streaming services is continuing to rise, the music licensing regime is becoming increasingly outdated and harmful to industry participants and consumers. In an attempt to address these problems, Congress is considering four major pieces of licensing reform legislation-the largest such package in many years.
TPI’s music licensing conference will discuss current issues in music use, legislative proposals to reform a broken system and forge a way forward that will bring clarity and equity to a licensing framework that currently is neither.
Following introductory remarks by Congressman Doug Collins, one of the lead sponsors of the Music Modernization Act, a panel of industry experts will discuss these issues. Panelists include:
Chris Harrison, Chief Executive Officer, Digital Media Association (DiMA)
David M. Israelite, President and Chief Executive Officer, National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA)
Panos A. Panay, Vice President, Innovation and Strategy, Berklee College of Music
Bill Rosenblatt, Founder, GiantSteps Media Technology Strategies
Thomas Lenard (moderator), Senior Fellow and President Emeritus, Technology Policy Institute
Video of this event is available here, also check out past events on our YouTube channel.
The recent Cablevision-Fox dispute illustrates the delicate nature of negotiations between video programmers and distributors. In reaction to the dispute, the Federal Communications Commission announced it intends to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on retransmission early next year. Because negotiations between programmers and distributors take place in the shadow of FCC regulations, regulatory changes may have large effects on those negotiations. How will reformed retransmission regulations affect programming deliberations and deals?
This event will focus on the interactions between economics and regulation that affect negotiations between distributors and programmers, focusing in particular on the effects of policy and how regulations might be improved to lead to more efficient outcomes.
Questions should be directed to Ashley Creel at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Jonathan Baker, Chief Economist, Federal Communications Commission
Antoinette Bush, Partner, Communications Group, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Jeffrey Eisenach, Managing Director and Principal, Navigant Economics
Barbara Esbin, Senior Counsel, Cinnamon Mueller
Simon Wilkie, Executive Director, Center for Communication Law and Policy, University of Southern California Gould School of Law
Scott Wallsten (moderator), Vice President for Research and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
The media landscape is changing rapidly, making it difficult for policy to keep up. Top-ranked Wall Street analyst Laura Martin will discuss her newest report, “The Future of Media: An Epic Battle,” in which she explores the changes and their implications.
The Internet giants control global distribution platforms with billions of consumers visiting them each day. Each are planning to spend billions of dollars in 2018 to create original video programming in an effort to disrupt and displace the incumbent TV and film ecosystems. Who wins this epic battle has broad ranging consequences for consumers and policy makers.
Challengers. The “Internet Aggregators” built their fortunes by aggregating consumers (FB), information (GOOG), products (AMZN), content (NFLX), and apps (AAPL). Each of these Internet Aggregators has announced it will spend $3-8 billion in 2018 to create premium video content in an effort to take revenue, viewers, and time away from the incumbent TV and film content creators and distributors. They wield significant competitive weapons including: 1) deeper pockets; 2) a lower cost of capital because Wall Street holds them to different valuation standards; 3) global distribution and revenue footprints; 4) mobile dominance; 5) loss (ie, negative ROI) tolerance. Ominously, they move fast without regard to ecosystem health, as evidenced by the value destruction of several historical media ecosystems. We believe that their war will ultimately be against one another, but their battle over TV and film economics represents an important skirmish in that end game.
Champs. From an over-the-air US TV industry generating less than $10B in revenue in 1980, the US TV ecosystem spent the next 35 years together building one of the most successful US consumer products of all time: the linear TV bundle. At its peak reach in 2010, 88% of US households paid a subscription fee to the TV ecosystem for access to 250+ Pay-TV channels. Although mega-bundle Pay-TV subscribers are now declining, revenue has continued to rise, reaching about $170B in 2017. The US TV ecosystem has proven robust because it has hundreds of frenemy corporations negotiating (a core competence) unique long-term contracts with each other that forward their own best interest. Whenever any company gets an edge, others follow. Also, it’s an ancient ecosystem, meaning high specialization and companies that succeeded by out-competing every company that came before.
Best Questions. Will Internet Aggregators successfully disrupt the incumbent TV and film ecosystems? What does that fight look like and what do “defeat” and “victory” mean? What will the video content and distribution companies look like after the battle? Laura Martin has a point of view. She will discuss her report and address these questions, and yours, at this event.
The long-awaited Federal Trade Commission and Department of Commerce reports outlined recommendations for online privacy policy ranging from strengthening multi-stakeholder models to a “Do Not Track” mechanism for internet browsers. Congress is now poised to add its voice to the debate, with legislation already introduced and more to come. With the proposals representing a wide swath of options, how can policymakers choose the best course of action? How will each proposal affect online businesses and consumers? Alternately, is a federal privacy policy needed or advisable? Panelists will discuss the findings of the recent DOC and FTC reports and will give their suggestions on how policymakers in both the agencies and Congress can move forward on online privacy issues.
Questions should be directed to Ashley Creel at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
The Honorable Cliff Stearns
William Kovacic, Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission
Thomas Lenard, President and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
Daniel Sepulveda, Senior Advisor, Office of Senator John Kerry
Catherine Tucker, Douglas Drane Career Development Professor in IT and Management, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Daniel Weitzner, Associate Administrator, NTIA, U.S. Department of Commerce
The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica (CA) controversy has it all – big tech, privacy, the Trump campaign, and the never-ending attempt to relitigate the 2016 election. It even managed to push Stormy Daniels off the front page.
The question now is what, if anything, policymakers should do in response and what the outcome will be. With Facebook pledging reforms, users demanding more transparency and lawmakers considering legislative fixes, the fallout from this issue could reshape how consumers’ data is used and shared – with lasting effects on our online lives.
Join the Technology Policy Institute as we bring together a panel of experts to provide insight and answers into what the Facebook data issue means to tech companies, policy makers and consumers alike.
Lunch will be provided.
Confirmed panelists include:
Howard Beales, Professor of Strategic Management & Public Policy, George Washington University
Stuart Ingis, Chairman, Venable, LLP
Adam Thierer, Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Josephine Wolff, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Rochester Institute of Technology
Thomas Lenard, Senior Fellow and President Emeritus, TPI (moderator)
Video of this event is available here, also check out past events on our YouTube
The FCC and the Administration are proposing making an additional 500 MHz of spectrum available for new wireless broadband uses, 120 MHz of which is currently used as broadcast spectrum. In order to vacate this spectrum, policymakers are proposing using voluntary incentive auctions, which will require Congressional authorization. Questions remain on how these incentive auctions would work in practice. Discussion at the event will focus on the economics of auctions and the nuts and bolts of how spectrum incentive auctions should be structured to provide the most efficient outcomes for stakeholders.
Questions should be directed to Ashley Creel at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Lawrence Ausubel, Professor of Economics, University of Maryland
Peter Cramton, Professor of Economics, University of Maryland
Evan Kwerel, Senior Economic Advisor, Federal Communications Commission
Karen Wrege, Senior Auction Consultant, Power Auctions LLC
Scott Wallsten, Vice President for Research, Technology Policy Institute
Judge Richard Leon has ruled that the AT&T/Time Warner may move forward – one of the most anticipated antitrust decisions in recent years. Now that the decision is in place, it is likely to influence not only how content providers, distributors, and platforms operate and interact with one another, but the entire landscape of vertical mergers more generally.
Will the decision affect which mergers companies pursue?
Which companies will be targets for mergers?
Does the decision affect horizontal mergers?
What industries are likely to be affected?
Join the Technology Policy Institute as we bring together a panel of experts to provide insight and answers into what Judge Leon’s AT&T/Time Warner decision means to the merger and antitrust landscape moving forward.
Confirmed panelists included:
Dennis Carlton, David McDaniel Keller Professor of Economics, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
William Kovacic, Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy, George Washington University Law School
Diana Moss, President, American Antitrust Institute
Christopher Yoo, John H. Chestnut Professor of Law, Communication, and Computer & Information Science; Director, Center for Technology, Innovation & Competition, University of Pennsylvania
Thomas Lenard, Senior Fellow and President Emeritus, TPI (moderator)
Video of this event is available here, also check out past events on our YouTube channel.
Tech companies that become dominant inevitably come into the antitrust cross-hairs. Google is the latest example and is now the subject of investigations in both the U.S. and Europe over allegations it has abused its dominant position in online search. A distinguished group of experts will discuss the complex issues the antitrust agencies must address, including market definition, market power, existence and effects of “search bias”, the availability of effective remedies, and, ultimately, what is in the consumer’s best interest.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Oren Bracha, Howrey LLP and Arnold, White and Durkee Centennial Professor, University of Texas Law School
Eric K Clemons, Professor, Information Strategy and Economics Group, Operations and Information Management, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Michael Katz, Sarin Chair in Strategy and Leadership and Director, Institute for Business Innovation, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley
Geoffrey Manne, Founder, International Center for Law & Economics and Lecturer in Law, Lewis and Clark Law School
Randal C. Picker, Paul H. and Theo Leffman Professor of Commercial Law, University of Chicago Law School
Thomas M. Lenard (moderator), President and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
The Digital Revolution and the proliferation of digital economy goods and services have been truly astonishing. However, what seems evident in daily life is not reflected in the nation’s GDP statistics. The value of “free goods” companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon produce is not included in GDP, which understates their contribution to economic welfare. As a result, true economic growth is also understated and the rate of inflation overstated. Policy makers rely on these important indicators to formulate monetary and fiscal policy.
New research by Charles Hulten and Leonard Nakamura addresses this issue, explaining that many of the benefits of the information available over the internet are targeted directly at consumers and therefore bypass GDP. Thus, conventional measures of GDP miss much of the consumer welfare created by such technological innovations.
Join the Technology Policy Institute and a panel of experts to discuss these and other new ideas aimed at quantifying the digital revolution.
Confirmed panelists included:
Ana Aizcorbe, Senior Research Economist, US Bureau of Economic Analysis
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Carol Corrado, Senior Advisor and Research Director, Economics Program, The Conference Board
Shane Greenstein, Martin Marshall Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
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Charles Hulten, Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Maryland, and Adjunct Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
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Leonard Nakamura, Vice President and Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
Video of this event is available here, also check out past events on our YouTube channel.
The Technology Policy Institute, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, and Silicon Flatirons are pleased to host The Innovation Consensus: Economic Growth in 2013 and Beyond.
American cannot grow and create jobs without innovation, and America cannot solve its fiscal challenges without growth. Yet America’s innovation potential, and the global competitiveness that it must fuel, is being challenged by trends both domestic and foreign. Despite its importance, the issue is getting relatively little attention. The half-day conference will explore issues surrounding America’s innovation and competitiveness challenge and how to move the issue to the front and center of our political system support from both sides of the aisle.
Registration for The Innovation Consensus: Economic Growth in 2013 and Beyond can be performed on the ITIF website.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Rob Atkinson, ITIF
Rebecca Blank, Department of Commerce
Congressman Kevin Brady (R-TX)
Senator Chris Coons (D-DE)
Peter Coy, Bloomberg Business Week
Jim Fallows, The Atlantic
Rana Foroohar, Time Magazine
Charles R. Hulten, University of Maryland
Rosabeth Kanter, Harvard Business School
Congressman Ron Kind (D-WI)
Thomas Lenard, Technology Policy Institute
Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS)
Jonathan Sallet, Silicon Flatirons
Senator Mark Warner (D-VA)
John Zogby, JZ Analytics
The Technology Policy Institute on November 15, 2018 hosted an in-depth look at the changing landscape of antitrust enforcement. The conference, Antitrust and the Platform Economy, will include a full slate of new papers scheduled to be published in the Review of Industrial Organization.
In addition, the conference includes a lunch discussion to mark the fortieth anniversary of Judge Robert Bork’s influential book The Antitrust Paradox. Judge Bork’s work led antitrust enforcement to focus on economic efficiency and consumer welfare rather than effects on competitors. With the rise of antitrust enforcement regimes around the world – as well as the rise of big technology companies – the legacy of The Antitrust Paradox is now being challenged in the United States and abroad.
The agenda was as follows:
9:00 AM – Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:15 AM – Opening Remarks
Noah Phillips, Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission
Moderator: Scott Wallsten, Technology Policy Institute
9:30 AM – Lessons from History
The Dubious Antitrust Argument for Breaking up the Internet Giants
Robert Crandall, Technology Policy Institute
Antitrust in the Internet Era: The Legacy of United States v. A&P
Timothy Muris, George Mason University, Scalia Law School and Sidley Austin
Jonathan Nuechterlein, Sidley Austin
Discussant: Lawrence J. White, NYU Stern School of Business
Moderator: Tom Lenard, Technology Policy Institute
10:30 AM – Multisided Markets, Big Data, and Consumer Welfare
Multisided Markets, Big Data, and a Little Antitrust Policy
Michael Katz, University of California, Berkeley
The Misguided Assault on the Consumer Welfare Standard in the Age of Platform Markets
Douglas Melamed, Stanford Law School
Nicolas Petit, University of Liege, University of South Australia, and Stanford University, Hoover Institution
Discussant – Bruce Kobayashi, Federal Trade Commission
Moderator: Sarah Oh, Technology Policy Institute
11:30 AM – Break
11:40 AM – Platforms and Market Definition
Attention Platforms, the Value of Content, and Public Policy
David Evans, Global Economics Group and University College London
Burdens and Balancing in Multisided Markets: The First Principles Approach of Ohio et at. v. American Express
Joshua Wright and John Yun, George Mason University Scalia Law School
Discussant: Ginger Jin, University of Maryland
Moderator: Tom Lenard, Technology Policy Institute
12:45 PM – Lunch Panel: 40 Years After the Antitrust Paradox
Tim Brennan, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Susan Creighton, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Douglas Melamed, Stanford Law School
Timothy Muris, George Mason University, Scalia Law School and Sidley Austin
Moderator: Scott Wallsten, Technology Policy Institute
Video of this event is available here, also check out past events on our YouTube channel.
Internet data traffic growth shows no signs of slowing anytime soon and peak traffic is projected to grow even faster due to many factors, including growth in video and cloud-based services and richer content on major websites. The changing nature of demand for bandwidth has potentially large implications for our communications landscape. For example, it may already be straining long-standing peering and transit agreements as traditional balances of traffic change and is increasingly testing the viability of the traditional “all-you-can-eat” broadband pricing models.
“The Future of Internet Economics” will highlight existing research on the economics of broadband and will address such topics as how changing bandwidth consumption patterns could impact future business models, how such changes could affect content creation, and what role, if any, the government should play as the industry grapples with these changes.
Questions should be directed to Ashley Creel at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Stanley M. Besen, Senior Consultant, Charles River Associates
Paper: The Evolution of Internet Interconnection from Hierarchy to “Mesh”: Implications for Government Regulation (with Mark A. Israel)
Bill Lehr, Research Associate, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Paper: Measuring Internet Performance when Broadband is the New PSTN (with Steve Bauer and David Clark)
Shane Greenstein, Kellogg Chair in Information Technology, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Anna-Maria Kovacs, Visiting Senior Policy Scholar, Center for Business and Public Policy, McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University
Paper: Internet Peering & Transit
Thomas Lenard, President and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
Peter Sevcik, President, NetForecast
Howard Shelanski, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law School
Scott Wallsten, Vice President for Research and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
Michael Weinberg, Staff Attorney, Public Knowledge
Christopher Yoo, John H. Chestnut Professor of Law, Communication, and Computer & Information Science, University of Pennsylvania Law School
Drs. Glen Weyl and Tom Hazlett will throw down at TPI on November 16 over the future of capitalism, property rights, and voting. Dr. Weyl will argue from his book coauthored with Eric Posner, Radical Markets: Uprooting Capitalism and Democracy for a Just Society, that markets are the best way to organize society but that they have been implemented in ways that lead to monopolization and inequality. Dr. Hazlett will counter that markets, perched on decentralized ownership rights, have democratized society and opened up resources we didn’t even know we had.
Weyl’s book, Radical Markets, was described in the Financial Times as “a savage critique of ‘techno-feudalism’ and an idealistic appeal to share the fruits of our collective intelligence more fairly.” Hazlett’s recent book, The Political Spectrum, was described by Nobel Laureate Vernon Smith as “a masterpiece of wit and wisdom…”
About the Book
Radical Markets turns…pretty much all conventional thinking about markets, both for and against-on its head. The book reveals bold new ways to organize markets for the good of everyone. It shows how the emancipatory force of genuinely open, free, and competitive markets can reawaken the dormant nineteenth-century spirit of liberal reform and lead to greater equality, prosperity, and cooperation.
Eric Posner and Glen Weyl demonstrate why private property is inherently monopolistic, and how we would all be better off if private ownership were converted into a public auction for public benefit. They show how the principle of one person, one vote inhibits democracy, suggesting instead an ingenious way for voters to effectively influence the issues that matter most to them…
Only by radically expanding the scope of markets can we reduce inequality, restore robust economic growth, and resolve political conflicts. But to do that, we must replace our most sacred institutions with truly free and open competition-Radical Markets shows how.
“Both a savage critique of ‘techno-feudalism’ and an idealistic appeal to share the fruits of our collective intelligence more fairly.”–John Thornhill, Financial Times
About the Author
E. (Eric) Glen Weyl is a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research New York City, who uses ideas from political economy to develop social technology for widely-shared prosperity and social cooperation. His recent book with long-time collaborator Eric A. Posner, Radical Markets: Uprooting Capitalism and Democracy for a Just Society, develops a new social ideology based on radically extending market exchange to dramatically reduce inequality of wealth and power. He is teaching a course on the book at Princeton University this fall as a Visiting Research Scholar and Lecturer. Wired Magazine last month labeled him as one of 25 people shaping the next 25 years of technology.
Video of this event is available here, also check out past events on our YouTube channel.
While the majority of research on file-sharing has focused primarily on whether file-sharing has decreased record sales, less attention has been paid to how much of the sales decline can be attributed to file sharing. At the event, “The Effect of File Sharing on Music Sales: Reviewing the Research,” Stan Liebowitz, Ashbel Smith Professor of Economics at the University of Texas at Dallas, will discuss the findings of his recent paper, “The Metric is the Message: How much of the Decline in Sound Recording Sales is due to File-Sharing?” In the paper, Liebowitz applies a consistent metric to existing research and finds that most estimates indicate that file-sharing is responsible for the entire decline in record sales. Coleman Bazelon from The Brattle Group, Inc., coauthor of “The Impact of Digitization on Business Models in Copyright-Driven Industries,” will discuss the findings of Liebowitz’s paper.
Questions should be directed to Ashley Creel at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
Social media platforms are being accused of being at the root of a host of social ills: fake news, depression, political polarization, addiction, and other maladies. To test these assertions, Allcott and his team has been tracking the diffusion of misinformation on social media. Recently, they ran a large-scale randomized experiment in which we paid Facebook users to deactivate their accounts in the four weeks before the 2018 midterm elections. Professor Allcott will present results from these studies and other related work.
While legislative efforts aimed at online piracy have stalled, a number of collaborative efforts among Internet stakeholders have begun to move forward. These include the creation of a “copyright alert system” by major ISPs and content providers, proposals for best practices by cloud storage providers, and cooperative efforts by content providers with ad networks, financial intermediaries, and search engines.
Will such efforts by stakeholders have a measurable impact on protecting copyrighted material online? Do they raise potential policy issues? How can these be most effectively addressed?
Panelists at “Combating Online Piracy: The Role of Voluntary Industry Initiatives,” hosted by the Technology Policy Institute, will discuss these various multilateral initiatives that are part of a campaign to reduce piracy, educate users, and redirect them to legitimate sources of content. Participants will present important background on these various initiatives and explore potential issues in their implementation.
“Combating Online Piracy: The Role of Voluntary Industry Initiatives” will be held November 30, 2012 from noon to 2:00pm in Room 1300 of the Longworth House Office Building. Lunch with be served. Speakers will be announced soon. Questions should be directed to Ashley Creel at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
In his recent paper, “Is There Really a Spectrum Crisis? Quantifying the Factors Affecting Spectrum License Value,” TPI’s Scott Wallsten found that spectrum auction prices increased from 2007 – 2011, suggesting that demand for wireless services outpaced technological improvements in spectrum usage and increases in spectrum supply. Both the Federal Communications Commission and Congress have made moving spectrum into the market a priority. Are the proposed spectrum auctions and release of spectrum for unlicensed uses enough to ease the “crunch”?
Panelists at “The Spectrum Crunch: Causes and Solutions,” hosted by the Technology Policy Institute, will discuss actions that regulators and Congress could take to ensure spectrum is allocated efficiently and available for future wireless services.
“The Spectrum Crunch: Causes and Solutions” will be held Friday, March 1, 2013 from noon to 2:00pm in Room B338 of the Rayburn House Office Building. Lunch will be served. Questions should be directed to Ashley Creel at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Coleman Bazelon, Principal, The Brattle Group
William Lehr, Research Associate, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, MIT
Gregory Rosston, Senior Fellow and Deputy Director, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Scott Wallsten, Vice President for Research and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
Lawrence White, Robert Kavesh Professor of Economics, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University
Thomas Lenard (moderator), President and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
New privacy regulations in Europe and California, combined with well-publicized data breaches, are fueling an intense debate about the U.S. approach to consumer privacy. The ongoing Federal Trade Commission hearings on Competition and Consumer Protection in the 21st Century prominently feature privacy. The Department of Commerce is engaged in a proceeding to develop privacy policy for the Administration. Companies and privacy advocates are increasingly united in favor of some form of federal privacy legislation. Despite disagreement on the details, the U.S. seems closer to a federal privacy law than it has been for a long time.
To discuss these issues, TPI has assembled a group of experts for a lunch panel on the topic, “Privacy: The Way Forward.” The panel will address questions related to the federal government’s role, including:
Do the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and perhaps other state legislation mean that federal legislation is needed?
If so, what should it contain? Should it preempt the states?
Has the current FTC ex post enforcement approach based on actual harms been successful? Should the U.S. move to an ex ante regulatory approach similar to the GDPR and CCPA?
What should the respective roles of the Administration, Congress, and the FTC be?
Panel participants include:
Roslyn Layton, Visiting Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
Maureen Ohlhausen, Partner, Baker Botts LLP and former Commissioner and Acting Chairwoman, Federal Trade Commission
Alan Raul, Founder and Leader, Sidley Austin Privacy and Data Security, and Information Law practice
Gail Slater, Special Assistant to the President for Tech, Telecom, and Cyber Policy, White House National Economic Council
Thomas Lenard (moderator), Senior Fellow and President Emertius, Technology Policy Institute
Video of this event is available here, also check out past events on our YouTube channel.
The Technology Policy Institute and the Progressive Policy Institute will host a luncheon discussion on tax reform and simplification on May 7th from 11:45am to 1:15pm.
Whether from the left, right, or center, there is almost universal agreement among elected officials in Washington that the federal tax code is long overdue for an overhaul. In recent years, the calls for tax reform and the number of tax simplification proposals has multiplied. In the United Kingdom, elected officials have also been reviewing their tax system and ideas for improving it. The May 7th discussion will focus on what’s happening on tax reform on both sides of the Atlantic.
The event will feature the Honourable Ian Liddell-Grainger, MP and Chair of the All Party Taxation Group for Parliament in the United Kingdom, and Rep. Richard Neal. Participants will discuss the approaches to tax simplification taking place in the U.S. and the U.K.
“Tax Simplification: What can the U.K. and U.S. learn from each other?” will be held Tuesday, May 7th, 2013 from 11:45am to 1:15pm in Room SVC 209 of the Capitol Visitor Center. Lunch will be served beginning at 11:45am, with the discussion beginning at 12:00 noon. For more information or questions, contact Lindsay Mark Lewis at [email protected] or Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Honourable Ian Liddell-Grainger, MP and Chair of the All Party Taxation Group for Parliament in the United Kingdom
The Honorable Richard Neal (D-MA), U.S. House of Representatives
Former Senator Bob Kerrey, Client Project Leader, Carmen Group
Arlene Holen, Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
Rudolph Penner, Former Director, Congressional Budget Office and Institute Fellow, Urban Institute
Paul Weinstein, Senior Fellow, Progressive Policy Institute
Since 2010, well over half a trillion dollars has been invested directly into wireline and wireless broadband networks. What do we expect investment over the next eight-tenths of a decade to look like? Are we at a steady-state level, or will it change? How much of that investment will be for 5G, other types of wireless connectivity, and wireline? What do we expect new capacity to carry? Will it continue to be video, or will an Internet of Things mean more sensor data traveling from machine to machine? What would the latter imply for connectivity needs? What other types of connectivity scenarios are CFOs, engineers, and content providers planning for?
Participants include:
Rob Alderfer, Vice President, Technology Policy, CableLabs
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Michelle Connolly, Professor of the Practice, Economics Department, Duke University
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Sarah Oh, Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
Amy Yong, Associate Director, Equity Research Analyst, Macquarie Bank
Scott Wallsten (moderator), President and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
Video of this event is available here, also check out past events on our YouTube channel.
The incoming Federal Communications Commission Chairman and new Commissioner, along with the existing members, will need to take action on a host of major issues. The Commission will have to make decisions about net neutrality regardless of how the court rules, navigate competing interests in the upcoming spectrum auctions, and determine how to address competition, to name a few.
Former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt and Gregory Rosston, SIEPR Deputy Director and former FCC Deputy Chief Economist, recently released the paper “Articulating A Modern Approach to FCC Competition Policy,” offering guidance to the incoming FCC on some of these issues. Panelists at this event will discuss the role of competition policy in FCC regulation and, more generally, how the new makeup of the FCC can move forward on issues that will lay the groundwork for the modern communications industry.
“Competition, Net Neutrality and Other Issues Facing the New FCC” will be held Tuesday, October 15, 2013 from 8:30am to 10:30 am at the City Club, located at 555 13th Street, NW, in Washington, DC. Questions should be directed to Ashley Benjamin at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Jim Cicconi, Senior Executive Vice President, External and Legislative Affairs, AT&T
Sharon Gillett, Principal Technology Policy Strategist, Microsoft
Reed Hundt, Former Chairman, Federal Communications Commission
Thomas Hazlett, Professor of Law & Economics and Director, Information Economy Project, George Mason University School of Law
John Mayo, Professor of Economics, Business and Public Policy, McDonough School of Business, and Executive Director, Center on Business and Public Policy, Georgetown University
Scott Wallsten, Vice President for Research and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
The effects of competition from Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google (FAANG) on traditional, old economy businesses has been the subject of much debate and analysis. But that’s yesterday’s news, Laura Martin argues. The next wave of competition is among the FAANGs themselves, and not all of them will survive.
In a new report, Martin explains that FAANG companies succeeded so dramatically because they benefit from network effects (where a new user adds value to other users), while 95 percent of other firms in the S&P 500 do not. Now, FAANG companies are competing with each other, creating a new competitive landscape that we have only just begun to understand.
Join us to discuss the implications of this new competition on areas including data privacy, 5G, consumer choice, and the future of media.
Hear Laura Martin and decide for yourself which of the FAANGs will survive.
Barely two years after enactment of the first major patent reform legislation in years, serious concerns remain that the patent system, particularly as applied to software, is characterized by wasteful litigation that ultimately is harmful to innovation. Major complaints involve patent assertion entities (PAEs), also known as patent trolls. In response, the Federal Trade Commission has held workshops and issued reports, and the White House has proposed a number of administrative and legislative actions. Congress is poised to act, with a half dozen bills pending.
Nevertheless, a lot is still unknown about PAEs and the effects of proposed reforms, as indicated in a recent speech by FTC Chairwoman Ramirez. While acknowledging the adverse impact of PAEs, the Chairwoman stated that “analysis of the costs and benefits of PAE activities remains limited.” The FTC has just announced a more comprehensive study.
How much do we know about the benefits and costs of PAE activities? Are PAEs the problem, or are they a symptom of problems with the patent system itself, particularly as applied to software? Are the remedial measures currently under consideration likely to yield net improvements? This panel will address these and other questions related to PAE activity and the pending reform measures.
“Patent Reform 2.0: Will Proposed Reforms Address the Patent Troll Problems?” will be held Friday, October 25, 2013 from 8:30am to 10:30 am at the City Club, located at 555 13th Street, NW, in Washington, DC. A continental breakfast with be served. Questions should be directed to Ashley Benjamin at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Peter Detkin, Founder and Vice-Chairman, Intellectual Ventures
John Duffy, Samuel H. McCoy II Professor of Law and Armistead M. Dobie Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
Thomas Lenard, President and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
Matt Levy, Patent Counsel, Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) View Presentation
Michael Meurer, Abraham and Lillian Benton Scholar and Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law
The Information Technology revolution has produced a data revolution—now commonly referred to as “big data”—in which massive amounts of data can be collected, stored and analyzed at relatively low cost. While the benefits of big data are numerous, from tracking health risks to helping consumers find the lowest prices on goods and services, the emergence of big data has also raised privacy concerns on the part of advocates and government officials. To alleviate these concerns, some are calling for remedies to either restrict or make more transparent how data are collected and used. Speakers at the event will discuss the big data revolution, proposed remedies for privacy concerns and their potential effects, including the findings in the recent paper, “The Big Data Revolution: Privacy Considerations,” authored by TPI’s Thomas Lenard and Paul Rubin.
Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, Republican chair of the House Privacy Task Force, will give opening remarks at the event. FTC Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen will offer closing remarks.
“The Big Data Revolution: Privacy Considerations” will be held Wednesday, January 15, 2014 from 8:00am to 10:45am at the City Club, located at 555 13th Street, NW, in Washington, DC. Questions should be directed to Ashley Benjamin at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
The Honorable Maureen Ohlhausen, Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission
Alan Raul, Partner, Sidley Austin LLP
Adam Thierer, Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center, George Mason University
Catherine Tucker, Mark Hyman, Jr. Career Development Professor and Associate Professor of Marketing, MIT Sloan School of Management
Daniel Weitzner, Director, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Decentralized Information Group, MIT and former United States Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Internet Policy
As firms continue investing in blockchain, which has endured its first boom-bust cycle, policymakers are considering whether and how to regulate this new technology. In this panel, we will discuss whether policymakers are speeding or slowing the rollout of blockchain and what Congress can do to encourage innovation and protect consumers. For private blockchains, are policies supporting continued investment in auditability, interbank settlement networks, and supply chain safety? For public blockchains, such as Ethereum and Bitcoin, will open protocols usher in new innovations in networked communications, or might the technology fail to gain traction? Should light-touch regulation, if any, apply to crypto-asset markets?
Join us for a lively discussion about what Congress should consider as it seeks to make policy.
Speakers include:
Jerry Brito, Executive Director, Coin Center
Daniel Gorfine, Chief Innovation Officer and Director of LabCFTC
Mark O’Riley, Technology Policy Counsel, International Business Machines
Diego Zuluaga, Policy Analyst, Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, Cato Institute
Sarah Oh (moderator), Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
Video of this event is available here, also check out past events on our YouTube channel.
Traditional pay TV is beginning to lose subscribers. Wall Street analyst Craig Moffett called this past year pay TV’s “worst 12 month stretch ever.” At the same time, over-the-top providers, primarily Netflix, are growing quickly. Yet, not all analysts believe Netflix has the winning business model. New business models and threats to old business models dovetail with various efforts at policy reform in Washington, including debates over usage-based billing, Internet “signal importation,” and a la carte choices rather than bundles of channels. This conference will discuss these and other issues facing the video market.
“The Future of Video Policy and Business Models” will be held Friday, January 24, 2014 from 9:00am to 11:00am at the National Press Club, located at 529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor, in Washington, DC. A continental breakfast will be served. Questions should be directed to Ashley Benjamin at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Paul Gallant, Managing Director and Telecom Policy Analyst, Guggenheim Partners
Howard Homonoff, Principal and Managing Director, Homonoff Media Group
Jeffrey Prince, Associate professor and the Cathie and Jerry Anderson Faculty Fellow, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University
Scott Wallsten (moderator), Vice President for Research and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
This week, MIT suspended its relationship with Chinese technology companies Huawei and ZTE, citing federal investigations.
Next week, another educational organization, the Technology Policy Institute, hosts a panel of experts to assess technical concerns and the costs and benefits of banning these companies from U.S. telecommunications markets.
Experts from the National Defense University, George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, Virginia Tech, the New America Foundation and Politico will participate in a discussion moderated by Scott Wallsten, the Technology Policy Institute’s president and senior fellow.
Confirmed panelists include:
T. Charles Clancy, Executive Director, Hume Center for National Security and Technology, Virginia Tech
Eric Geller, Cybersecurity Reporter, Politico
Jamil N. Jaffer, Executive Director, National Security Institute; Director, National Security Law & Policy Program at Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University
Samm Sacks, Cybersecurity Policy and China Digital Economy Fellow, New America Foundation
Harry Wingo, Chair, Cyber Security Department, College of Information and Cyberspace, National Defense University
Scott Wallsten (moderator), President and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
The U.S. government has accused telecommunications manufacturer Huawei of making its equipment capable of gathering information for the Chinese government. In response to these concerns, the U.S. has banned domestic telecommunications companies from using Huawei equipment in their networks as they roll out new 5G services. Some western countries, particularly in Europe, seem less willing to ban the company’s products.
“This is an important policy and security issue that deserves these experts’ attention,” Wallsten said.
“National security concerns restrict available evidence, making it nearly impossible to do a full cost-benefit analysis of banning Huawei. But we may know more than we think.”
Video of this event is available here, also check out past events on our YouTube channel.
To maximize spectrum’s value, it must be able to transition to new uses as technologies emerge. The C-Band includes 500 MHz of particularly desirable spectrum between 3.7 and 4.2 GHz and is currently allocated for satellite use. Given fast-growing wireless use and emerging 5G technologies, there is widespread agreement that at least some C-Band spectrum should be available for terrestrial uses instead of satellite uses, and that the reallocation should happen as quickly as possible. But there is less agreement on how much to reallocate and how to do it. The largest satellite companies that currently use the band have proposed a private sale. T-Mobile has proposed an incentive auction similar to the one the FCC recently completed for broadcast spectrum. Broadcasters and cable companies, meanwhile, are wary of reallocations that may disrupt the airwaves that they use to distribute programming. This panel will discuss the economic, policy, and practical implications of the competing proposals as well as whether and how the FCC will respond to these options for C-Band reallocation.
Panelists include:
Tim Brennan, Professor, Public Policy and Economics, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Colleen King, Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Charter Communications
Patrick McFadden, General Counsel, National Association of Broadcasters
Peter Pitsch, Head of Advocacy & Government Relations, C-Band Alliance
Steve Sharkey, Vice President, Government Affairs, Engineering and Technology Policy, T-Mobile
Scott Wallsten (moderator), President and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
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.
Techlash is reflected in news, commentary and recent Congressional hearings. But while Americans’ view of tech companies may be less positive than before, the major tech platforms and their services remain an integral part of people’s lives, and there is no indication that is changing. In fact, survey data suggests regulating or breaking up the platforms is not a high priority for most Americans.
Confirmed panelists include:
James C. Cooper, Associate Professor of Law and Director, Program on Economics & Privacy, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Bruce P. Mehlman, Founder, Mehlman, Castagnetti, Rosen & Thomas
Randal C. Picker, James Parker Hall Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School
Catherine Tucker, Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management
Thomas M. Lenard (moderator), Senior Fellow and President Emeritus, Technology Policy Institute
Not many years ago policy debates focused almost exclusively on the “last-mile” broadband connection to consumers’ homes. Recent public disputes between Netflix and ISPs Comcast and Verizon, however, have highlighted the importance to the consumer’s online experience of peering arrangements, content delivery networks (CDNs), and other inner workings of the Internet. At the same time, the need to continue investing in the network to keep up with increasing demand has not diminished. This event will focus on the economics underlying the current controversies and how the web of peering agreements, CDNs, last-mile and backbone networks interact to keep both money and content flowing to where it is most needed.
“Internet Economics in a Changing Video and Data Environment” was held Monday, May 5, 2014 from 8:30am to 10:30am at the City Club, located at 555 13th Street, NW, in Washington, DC. Questions should be directed to Ashley Benjamin at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Stanley Besen, Senior Consultant, Charles River Associates
Joseph Cavender, Vice President, Federal Affairs, Level 3 Communications, LLC
David Clark, Senior Research Scientist, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and Co-Director, Communications Futures Program, MIT
Bob Crandall, Adjunct Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute and Nonresident Senior Fellow, Economic Studies Program, Brookings Institution
Scott Wallsten (moderator), Vice President for Research and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
Seemingly overnight, “evidence-based policy” is in vogue. The idea is simple and uncontroversial: The government should produce better evidence and use it to make decisions. But actually getting legislators and policymakers to do that, especially in today’s politically charged environment, is a tall order. This event takes on that challenge.
The recently passed Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act provides a vehicle for making evidence-based policy a true input into policymaking, and now committed people must drive it to reality.
At this conference, two former Commissioners of the Evidence-based Policymaking Commission will host a discussion on how to make EBP a reality. They will talk with leading decision makers in the evidence community, discuss ways agencies can produce better evidence, and consider how some of the latest insights from behavioral economics can stimulate better policy outcomes.
The event is made possible through a generous grant from the William T. Grant Foundation.
8:30 – 9:00 Registration and light breakfast
9:00 – 9:10 Welcome and Introduction
Scott Wallsten Technology Policy Institute
Robert Hahn, Technology Policy Institute
9:10 – 9:35 Updates on Evidence Act: A conversation with Shelly Wilkie Martinez,
U.S. Office of Management and Budget and Robert Shea (moderator), Grant Thornton
Lightning-round presentations on leading examples
9:35 – 9:50 Insights from the Administration for Children and Families multi-year
work on behavioral insights
Emily Schmitt, Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
Schmitt_EBP_compressed
9:50 – 10:05 Insights for federal agencies from the city level
Sam Quinney, The Lab @ DC
Quinney_EBP
10:05 – 10:20 Insights from the U.S. Department of Education
Jessica Barrett Simpson, U.S. Department of Education
10:20 – 10:35 Insights from working with agencies
Paul Ferraro, Johns Hopkins University
Ferraro_EBP_compressed
10:35 – 10:50 Break
10:50 – 11:25 Moderated discussion and audience Q&A with presenters
Andy Feldman (moderator), Grant Thornton
11:25 – 11:30 Concluding remarks – Robert Hahn
11:30 AM Adjourn
Digital channels for distribution have create new opportunities for artists and content owners, but also new challenges in enforcing copyright and reducing piracy. How much of an impact does piracy really have in the creative industries? Have past efforts to curb piracy been effective? This panel discussion will highlight findings from recent empirical research analyzing the impact of piracy on sales of copyrighted products and quantifying the effectiveness of both policy-based and market-based strategies for fighting piracy.
“Digital Distribution Channels: Challenges and Opportunities” will be held Thursday, May 8, 2014 from 8:30am to 10:30 am at the City Club, located at 555 13th Street, NW, in Washington, DC. Registration and a continental breakfast will begin at 8:30, with the program starting at 9:00. Questions should be directed to Ashley Benjamin at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Michael Smith, Senior Adjunct Fellow, Technology Policy Institute, and Professor of Information Systems and Marketing and the Co-Director, Initiative for Digital Entertainment Analytics, Carnegie Mellon University
Joel Waldfogel, Professor, Frederick R Kappel Chair in Applied Economics, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota
Alejandro Zentner, Associate Professor of Managerial Economics, University of Texas at Dallas
Thomas Lenard (moderator), President and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
The Technology Policy Institute and the Progressive Policy Institute will host a luncheon discussion on tax reform on June 18th from 1:30pm to 3:00pm.
Tax reform is on the legislative agenda in the United States and abroad. But too often reform proposals miss the mark. Join the Technology Policy Institute (TPI) and the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) for a discussion of the benefits of, and political obstacles to tax reform in the U.S., particularly as they pertain to small business, and what we can learn from the United Kingdom.
The event will feature the Honourable Ian Liddell-Grainger, MP and Chair of the All Party Taxation Group for Parliament in the United Kingdom, and Representative Kurt Schrader.
“Reforming the Tax Code: A Transatlantic Perspective ” will be held Wednesday, June 18th, 2014 from 1:30pm to 3:00pm in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 215 (Senate Finance Committee Hearing room). Lunch with be served beginning at 1:30pm, with the discussion beginning at 1:40pm. For more information or questions, contact Cody Tucker at [email protected] or Amy Smorodin at [email protected]stitute.org.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Honourable Ian Liddell-Grainger, MP and Chair of the All Party Taxation Group for Parliament in the United Kingdom
Representative Kurt Schrader, (D-Ore.)
Marc Goldwein, Senior Policy Director, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
Arlene Holen, Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
Rudolph Penner, Institute Fellow and Arjay and Frances Miller Chair in Public Policy, Urban Institute
Michael Thompson, Managing Director, S&P Capital IQ
Paul Weinstein (moderator), Senior Fellow, Progressive Policy Institute
Join the team to celebrate Two Think Minimum (TTM), our award winning podcast, at Drink and Think: A TPI Happy Hour. Even Parks and Rec’s Gary/Jerry/Larry/Terry Gergich has given TTM his seal of approval:
Join us for cocktails, conversation, and innovative art courtesy of ARTECHOUSE.
*ARTECHOUSE is an American innovative art space and destination for immersive and interactive art exhibitions located in SW DC near the Wharf, nestled between the Mandarin Oriental and FCC.
Recent announcements by HBO and CBS for pure over-the-top video services — no cable subscription required – and a recent proposal to apply multichannel video programming distributor rules to OTT video providers have put the future of video markets back in the news. With these announcements, and other content providers watching carefully to decide whether to offer their own subscription OTT service, have we finally reached a tipping point away from bundles? What are the potential implications of stand-alone OTT services on the economics of video content creation and distribution? Do they have implications for pending mergers? How will the FCC’s recent proposed rule affect OTT and traditional video services? A panel of experts representing all players in the video space will discuss these and other issues at the upcoming event, “OTT Video: The End of Bundles?” hosted by the Technology Policy Institute.
CONFIRMED PANELISTS
Laura Martin, Senior Analyst, Entertainment, Cable & Media, Needham & Company, LLC
TV’s NPV
Pricing Strategies in a Digital World
The Future of TV: The Invisible Hand
Valuing Consumers’ TV Choices
Bruce Owen, Gordon Cain Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) and Morris M. Doyle Centennial Professor in Public Policy (Emeritus), Stanford University
Philip Verveer, Senior Counselor, Office of the Chairman, Federal Communications Commission
Steven Wildman, Professor of Media & Information and Quello Center Founding Director, Michigan State University and Former Chief Economist, Federal Communications Commission
Scott Wallsten (moderator), Vice President for Research and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
“OTT Video: The End of Bundles?” will be held Friday, November 14, 2014 from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm at the National Press Club, First Amendment Lounge, located at 529 14th Street, NW, in Washington, DC. Questions should be directed to Ashley Benjamin at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
Featuring Remarks by Congressman Darrell Issa and USPTO’s Michelle Lee
Patent reform is high on the agenda for the upcoming Congress. Proponents of reform claim the current system produces excessive litigation, particularly on the part of “patent assertion entities,” imposing costs on entrepreneurs and others and deterring innovation. Those on the other side suggest that the litigation explosion is overstated and that patent reform efforts will weaken intellectual property protections to the detriment of innovation. Complicating this issue is that the effects of the America Invents Act, recent court decisions, as well as changes at USPTO are still unfolding.
The Technology Policy Institute is hosting a half-day conference “Patents in Theory and Practice: Implications for Reform” on February 11th to explore the evidence for reform from both sides of the issues.
“Patents in Theory and Practice: Implications for Reform” will be held Wednesday, February 11, 2015 from 8:30am to 1:00pm at the National Press club, located at 529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor, in Washington, DC. Lunch will be served. Registration can be performed on the TPI website. Questions should be directed to Ashley Benjamin at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA)
Michelle Lee, Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO
Richard Abramson, Vice President, Legal and Business Affairs and General Counsel, SRI International
Ron Katznelson, President, Bi-Level Technologies
Jay Kesan, Professor and Director, Program in Intellectual Property and Technology Law and H. Ross & Helen Workman Research Scholar, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Diane Lettelleir, Senior Managing Counsel, Litigation, JCPenney
Timothy Simcoe, Senior Economist, President’s Council of Economic Advisers and Associate Professor of Strategy & Innovation, Boston University School of Management (on leave)
Daniel Spulber, Elinor Hobbs Distinguished Professor of International Business and Professor of Management Strategy, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, and Professor of Law at the Northwestern University Law School
Catherine Tucker, Mark Hyman Jr. Career Development Professor and Associate Professor of Management Science, MIT Sloan School of Management
Daniel Zadoff, Managing Partner, Nutritionix
Patent reform is high on the agenda for Congress. Competing bills introduced this year take different approaches to improving the patent litigation system. Will these proposals, ranging from heightened pleading standards to changing the standard for fee shifting, strengthen or weaken the patent system? What will be the effect on innovation? Panelists at “Patent Reform and the 114th Congress: What does the Evidence Show?” hosted by the Technology Policy Institute, will attempt to disentangle some of the conflicting data and research. More details regarding the panel will be announced in upcoming weeks.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Eli Dourado, Research Fellow and Director of Technology Policy Program, Mercatus Center, George Mason University
John Duffy, Samuel H. McCoy II Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
Stuart Graham, Associate Professor of Strategic Management, Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology and former Chief Economist, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Mike Meurer, Abraham and Lillian Benton Scholar and Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law
Michael Risch, Professor, Villanova University School of Law
Thomas Lenard (moderator), President and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
“Patent Reform and the 114th Congress: What does the Evidence Show?” will be held Tuesday, April 7, 2015 from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm in Room HVC 201 at the Capitol Visitor Center, located at 1st Street, NE and East Capitol Street in Washington, DC. Lunch will be served. Questions should be directed to Ashley Benjamin at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
Disney+ and Apple TV+ started a price war in US streaming, and they now threaten the US TV status quo. Comcast NBCU’s Peacock and AT&T’s HBOMax will launch in 2020 at prices ranging from free to $15/month, but each has a more complicated relationship with the traditional linear TV bundle.
Leading equity analyst Laura Martin will discuss the future of TV in the US, including implications for $70B/year of TV advertising revenue, $90B/year of payments by consumers for TV, winners and losers, and what happens next.
The European Commission’s Digital Single Market Strategy is intended to break down the numerous barriers to cross-border online activity that currently exist in the European Union. The proposal covers a broad array of policies, including harmonizing EU rules for online purchases of goods, improving cross-border parcel delivery, integrating telecommunications regulation, and reducing burdens of different VAT regimes. While many of these proposals do not seem controversial—at least on this side of the Atlantic—some require closer scrutiny. For example, the strategy document includes a section on online platforms, reflecting the support of some officials for a general regulatory framework for “essential digital platforms.” In addition, the Commission is launching in tandem with the Digital Single Market Strategy a competition law inquiry in the e-commerce area.Panelists at “Innovation, Regulation, and the EU’s Digital Single Market Strategy” will evaluate the Digital Single Market strategy’s effect on economies and, most importantly, incentives to innovate, on both sides of the Atlantic.
Innovation, Regulation, and the EU’s Digital Single Market Strategy will be held Thursday, June 11, 2015 from 8:30 am to 11:00 am in the Holeman Lounge at the National Press Club, located at 529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor, in Washington, DC. Registration and a continental breakfast begin at 8:30 am and the program will begin at 9:00 am. Questions should be directed to Ashley Benjamin at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Richard Allan, Vice President of Policy, Europe, Facebook
Stephen Ezell, Director, Global Innovation Economy, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Andrea Glorioso, Counselor, Digital Economy / Cyber, Delegation of the European Union to the USA
Ambassador David Gross, Partner and Chair, International Telecommunications Group, Wiley Rein
Ambassador Daniel Sepulveda, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Christopher Yoo John H. Chestnut Professor of Law, Communication, and Computer & Information Science; Director, Center for Technology, Innovation & Competition, University of Pennsylvania Law School
Thomas Lenard (moderator), President and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
THIS IS DESIGNED TO BE A WIDELY ATTENDED EVENT AND INTENDED TO COMPLY WITH ALL HOUSE AND SENATE ETHICS RULES. REFRESHMENTS WILL BE PROVIDED.
THE GOVERNMENT BACK IN BUSINESS: REVENGE OF THE REGULATORS?
AUGUST 16-18, 2015
Regulation is back in vogue. From network neutrality to big data and the internet of things, an increasingly prevalent tendency is to look to Congress or regulatory agencies for solutions to real or perceived problems. Today, policymakers favor pre-emptive interventions, consistent with the “precautionary principle” of regulation, which holds that it is better to prevent problems before they happen but eschew cost-benefit analysis when creating rules. What accounts for the newfound infatuation with the regulatory state? Are we ignoring lessons from academic research regarding regulation? How will today’s policies affect innovation in technology-creating and technology-using industries? Discussion panels and speakers at the 2015 TPI Aspen Forum focused on this new-found confidence in the regulatory state and its possible consequences.
2016 AND BEYOND: TECHNOLOGY POLICY CHALLENGES
AUGUST 21-23, 2016
The next administration will face difficult policy choices that will affect the pace and direction of innovation. How might a new administration think differently about issues as diverse as the future of connectivity, the tradeoff between privacy and security, incentives to invest in new infrastructure, technologies and content, and how to coordinate policies with our global partners? Would such changes be better for consumers and for economic growth generally? Speakers at the 2016 TPI Aspen Forum will look ahead to the critically important policy debates that will take place over the coming years.
For additional information, contact Jane Creel at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
In the aftermath of the immediate Coronavirus crisis, and influenced by data needs associated with that crisis, Congress will be under intense pressure to modify U.S. privacy enforcement to enable health officials to monitor and track progress of future pandemics.
This pressure will change the privacy policy debate, setting up a new clash of public priorities. The Technology Policy Institute will host a virtual panel of experts to discuss the policy tradeoffs involved in this new chapter of the international privacy debate.
Moderated by TPI Fellow and President Emeritus Thomas Lenard, the virtual panel takes place on Tuesday, April 7, at 2:30 pm (EDT)
“The standard debate on the U.S. ex post enforcement model versus GDPR and CCPA has obscured the more fundamental questions that may be even more important, particularly in the context of a major health crisis: How to make the inevitable tradeoffs and who should be responsible for making them,” Lenard said. “These questions need to be addressed to assure that any new privacy regime yields net benefits relative to the current U.S. approach.”
Panelists for the virtual panel include:
Jane Bambauer, Professor of Law, University of Arizona
Julie Brill, Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Global Privacy and Regulatory Affairs, Microsoft
Alan Raul, Partner and Leader, Privacy, Data Security and Information Law Practice, Sidley Austin LLP
Liad Wagman, Senior Economic and Technology Advisor Office of Policy Planning, Federal Trade Commission
Among the questions the TPI virtual panel will address:
Is the current U.S. approach to privacy inadequate and, if so, in what way?
What harms should be addressed that are not being addressed currently?
How should harms be defined?
What are the tradeoffs?
Who should make them?
What are the potential uses of data to address coronavirus and evaluate various measures? Are they problematic? Are they precluded by current law?
Has the tradeoff changed due to the coronavirus? If so, how?
Will privacy legislation be affected by coronavirus pandemic?
Robert E. Kahn has been added as the keynote luncheon speaker for the upcoming event, The Future of the Internet Ecosystem in a Post-Open Internet Order World. Kahn is the co-creator of TCP/IP, the fundamental communication protocols at the heart of the internet. He is currently CEO and President of the Corporation for National Research Initiatives.
Please join TPI and the University of Pennsylvania Law School’s Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition on January 8th for presentations and discussions of new studies by academic experts on the future of competition and the Internet ecosystem after the Open Internet Order. The studies will be published in special upcoming issue of the Review of Industrial Organization.
AGENDA
Panel
Michael Katz, University of California, Berkeley
Paper: Whither the Open Internet Order
Roger Noll, Stanford University
Paper: Incentives to Invest in the Debate over Net Neutrality Rules
Lawrence White, New York University (discussant)
Scott Wallsten, Technology Policy Institute (moderator)
Panel
Timothy Brennan, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Paper: The Post-Internet Order Ecosystem: Lessons from the Pre-Internet Order Experience
Keith Hylton, Boston University School of Law
Paper: Law, Social Welfare, and Net Neutrality
Michelle Connolly, Duke University (discussant)
David Sappington, University of Florida (moderator)
Lunch
Introduction: Thomas Lenard, Technology Policy Institute
Remarks: Robert Kahn, Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI)
Panel
John Mayo, Georgetown University
Paper: The Evolution of “Competition”: Lessons for 21st Century Telecommunications Policy (with Amanda Delp)
Christopher Yoo, University of Pennsylvania Law School
Paper: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Net Uniformity: Toward a Better Implementation of Nondiscrimination and Interconnection
Shane Greenstein, Harvard Business School (discussant)
Thomas Lenard, Technology Policy Institute (moderator)
New research by an MIT Sloan expert measures the roles of income and the diffusion of high-speed Internet on people’s ability to self-isolate during a global pandemic. She will reveal her important findings April 16 during a Technology Policy Institute webinar at noon.
Catherine Tucker, the Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management at MIT Sloan, will discuss her new study, Social Distancing, Internet Access and Inequality, with TPI President and Senior Fellow Scott Wallsten.
The research casts a wide net, tracking 20 million mobile devices and their movements across physical locations, and whether they leave their homes that day.
“We show that while income is correlated with differences in the ability to stay at home, the unequal diffusion of high-speed Internet in homes across regions drives much of this observed income effect,” writes Tucker in the study’s abstract
“Devices in regions with either high-income or high-speed Internet are less likely to leave their homes after such a directive.”
Requiring data portability – being able to easily move one’s personal data to a competing platform, perhaps together with the related requirement of “interoperability” – has become a rare point of widespread agreement. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation includes a right to data portability, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg even included it in his internet regulation proposal. Portability, along with interoperability, is a central requirement of the “ACCESS” Act” introduced by Senators Warner, Hawley, and Blumenthal. Finally, three major reports on digital platform competition issues published in 2019 – by the European Commission, the United Kingdom Digital Competition Expert Panel, and the Stigler Center at the University of Chicago – endorsed a data portability requirement as well as some form of interoperability.
Advocates argue that portability and interoperability would encourage entry and competition with incumbent tech platforms, while also providing privacy benefits. The panel will discuss the validity of these claims and the costs and benefits of portability and interoperability requirements.
Participants:
Jason Furman, Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy, Harvard Kennedy School; former Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers
Michael Katz, Professor Emeritus, Haas School of Business and Department of Economics, Sarin Chair in Strategy and Leadership, UC Berkeley; former Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economic Analysis, Antitrust Division, DOJ
Bijan Madhani, Privacy and Public Policy Manager, Facebook
Catherine Tucker, Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management Science, MIT Sloan
Thomas Lenard (moderator), President Emeritus and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
As COVID-19 cases again soar, the U.S. is looking for a way forward. Join us for a presentation by Chang-Tai Hsieh, a co-author of the recently published paper, “The Cost of Privacy: Welfare Effect of the Disclosure of COVID-19 Cases.” and a conversation with TPI President and Senior Fellow Scott Wallsten. Hsieh and his coauthors explore how public disclosure of the location of people who tested positive for COVID-19 affected the transmission of the virus and economic losses in Seoul, South Korea.
The authors find that public disclosure of location data for positive COVID-19 tests in Seoul “lowers the number of cases by 400 thousand and the number of deaths by 13 thousand,” and that the “economic cost is 50% lower” relative to the alternative of no public disclosure.
These results provide important insights into the costs and benefits of full public disclosure, how privacy and data sharing plays a role in combating the pandemic, and possible paths forward for the U.S. as we continue to deal with COVID19.
The Federal Communications Commission’s privacy proposal is advertised as a way to “ensure consumers have the tools they need to make informed choices” concerning data that can potentially be collected by ISPs. However, the proposal raises a number of questions. On the most basic level, does the proposal address an identifiable market failure and specific harms? What are the costs and benefits of the proposal, and would the proposal ultimately be in the interests of consumers? How would the FCC’s enforcement differ from the Federal Trade Commission’s approach? What would be the rationale for a different approach?
Speakers at the event discussed the FCC’s proposal to regulate the use of data collected by internet service providers, including: comparisons with the Federal Trade Commission approach; the need for economic and cost-benefit analysis; whether the proposal matches consumer expectations regarding privacy and data collection; and the effectiveness of translating rules intended for Consumer Propriety Network Information collected by telephone networks to broadband providers.
Registration and a continental breakfast will begin at 8:30, with the program starting at 9:00. Questions should be directed to Ashley Benjamin at [email protected] Members of the press should contact Amy Smorodin at [email protected]
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CONFIRMED PANELISTS
Jim Halpert, Partner and Co-Chair, Global Data Protection, Privacy and Security Practice, DLA Piper
Lisa Hone, Associate Bureau Chief, Wireline Competition Bureau, Federal Communications Commission
Jon Nuechterlein, Partner and Co-Leader, Communications Regulatory Practice, Sidley Austin LLP and former General Counsel, Federal Trade Commission
Joshua Wright, Professor of Law and Director of the Global Antitrust Institute, George Mason University and former Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission
Thomas Lenard (moderator), President and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
Join us for a conference bringing together distinguished academics, industry representatives, and policy experts to discuss how the music licensing ecosystem can compensate the right people more transparently, fairly, and efficiently. The conference, which is jointly organized by the Technology Policy Institute and New York University School of Law’s Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy, will take place at NYU School of Law in NYC. The agenda and list of speakers are below.
The program, including continental breakfast, is free. Attendees must register in advance. For more information, contact [email protected]
Program Agenda
8:00 – 8:30 AM Welcome Reception and Breakfast
8:30 – 8:35 AM Opening Remarks
8:35 – 9:45 AM Roundtable 1:
How do we structure a modern digital music distribution music-licensing ecosystem to be more competitive and work more efficiently and fairly for all stakeholders?
9:45-10:00 AM Break
10:00 – 11:00 AM Roundtable 2:
Deep Dive into Digital Databases
11:00 – 11:15 AM Break
11:15 AM – 12:15 PM Roundtable 3:
What Changes to the Current System Are Feasible that Would Facilitate a Transition to a More Competitive Market?
12:15-12:25 PM Closing Remarks
12:30 PM Conference ends
Confirmed speakers include:
Jacqueline Charlesworth (General Counsel and Associate Register of Copyrights, United States Copyright Office)
Dale Collins (Partner, Shearman & Sterling LLP; Adjunct Professor of Law, NYU School of Law)
Andrea Finkelstein (Senior Vice President, Business Affairs, SONY Music Entertainment)
James Griffin (Managing Director, OneHouse)
Michael Katz (U.C. Berkeley, Sarin Chair in Strategy and Leadership and professorships in both the Economics Department and the Haas School of Business)
Lee Knife (Executive Directors, Digital Media Association)
Thomas M. Lenard (President and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute)
David Levin (Vice President, Digital Licensing Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI))
Steven Marks (Chief, Digital Business & General Counsel, Recording Industry Association of America)
Larry Miller (Clinical Associate Professor and Director, Music Business Program, at NYU Steinhardt)
Katherine Oyama (Senior Policy Counsel, Google, Inc.)
Casey Rae (Director of Music Licensing, Sirius XM)
Daniel Rubinfeld (Robert L. Bridges Professor of Law and Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley and Professor of Law at NYU)
SoundExchange
Christopher Sprigman (Professor, NYU School of Law)
Lawrence J. White (Robert Kavesh Professor of Economics at New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business and Deputy Chair of the Economics Department at Stern)
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are becoming part of the economy in ways we could only imagine a decade ago. From self-driving cars to robots, the rapid growth of AI creates tremendous potential opportunities to increase productivity and economic growth. Panelists at the event will discuss how computer scientists design and implement AI as well as how it is being incorporated into diverse fields and applications, including the current FCC spectrum auction, the digital humanities and image recognition. Participants will also explore the policy implications of incorporating AI into these activities. Registration for the event can be performed below.
Agenda
8:15 am Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:30 am Keynote: Machine learning, Government, and Policy Analysis
Susan Athey, Economics and Technology Professor, Stanford University Graduate School of Business
View Presentation
9:00 am Panel 1: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning 101
Colin Allen, Provost Professor of Cognitive Science and History & Philosophy of Science & Medicine, Indiana University and Chair Professor of Philosophy, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China
Kris Hammond, Chief Scientist and co-founder, Narrative Science and Professor of Computer Science, Northwestern University
Jenn Wortman Vaughan, Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research, New York City
View Presentation
Alex Tabarrok (moderator), Professor of Economics, George Mason University
10:00 am Panel 2: Artificial Intelligence Policy Implications and Applications
James Hairston, Manager, Global Policy Development, Facebook
Tim Hwang, Public Policy and Government Relations Counsel, Google, Inc.
Kevin Leyton-Brown, Professor, Computer Science, University of British Columbia
View Presentation
Scott Wallsten (moderator), President and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
A Book Event Hosted by TPI
Traditional network television programming has been upended by services that allow consumers to “binge-watch” whenever they want on many devices. These innovative video services would not have ordered entire seasons of shows without being relatively certain that subscribers would actually view them. Companies expected shows to be popular because of data they had collected on user preferences.
In Streaming, Sharing, Stealing: Big Data and the Future of Entertainment, Michael Smith and Rahul Telang, experts on entertainment analytics, show how new video services are changing the rules not just in distribution, but in other entertainment industries as well. Pricing, production, distribution, and piracy are all affected in this period of unprecedented technological disruption. To survive and succeed, businesses have to adapt rapidly and creatively. How can they discover who their customers are, what they want, and how much they are willing to pay? The bottom line: follow the data.
Please join us for a discussion of the book with co-authors Smith, TPI Adjunct Fellow and Professor of Information Technology and Marketing at Carnegie Mellon University, and Telang, Professor of Information Systems at Carnegie Mellon’s Heinz College. Smith and Telang will discuss niche products and the long tail, product differentiation, price discrimination, and incentives for users not to steal content. The event will be moderated by Eriq Gardner, Senior Editor at The Hollywood Reporter and author at the THR Esq. blog.
Patent Assertion Entities—firms that specialize in enforcing patent rights, by negotiating licenses or, if necessary, suing alleged infringed—have been central to recent debates about patent reform, with differing views about whether these firms perform a valuable economic function or impose excessive litigation costs. In an effort to help answer these questions, the Federal Trade Commission in 2014 initiated a Section 6(b) study of PAEs and their impact on innovation and competition. A principal purpose of this study is to go beyond the currently available public record of PAE litigation activity and attempt to gather non-public data related to acquisition and licensing practices, and structural issues related to organization and economic relationships.
Please join TPI for a discussion of the report with academic experts on patent issues. Opening remarks will be given by Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen of the Federal Trade Commission.
Panelists confirmed for the event are:
Suzanne Munck, Deputy Director and Chief Counsel for Intellectual Property, Federal Trade Commission
Fritz Scheuren, Senior Fellow and Vice President, Center for Excellence in Survey Research, NORC
Joshua Wright, Executive Director, Global Antitrust Institute, George Mason University School of Law and former Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission
Rosemarie Ziedonis, Associate Professor of Strategy and Innovation, and Academic Director for Entrepreneurship, Boston University Questrom School of Business
Thomas Lenard (moderator), Senior Fellow and President Emeritus, Technology Policy Institute
Hosted by the Technology Policy Institute and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
The new administration will have an opportunity to reevaluate policies that affect innovation and technological development. How can federal policies promote broadband buildout, spur investment in intelligent infrastructure, encourage research and development, and advance a host of other actions that have the potential to improve productivity and the U.S. economy? Join the Technology Policy Institute and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation for a morning of expert panel discussions on how the incoming administration can accelerate the pace of innovation in the U.S. economy.
Event Contact: Harry Clapsis, 202-449-135, [email protected] or Ashley Benjamin, 202-828-4405, [email protected]
Press Contact: Amy Smorodin, 202-828-4405, [email protected]
AGENDA
8:00 am – 8:30 am: Registration
8:30 am – 8:45 am: Remarks by Robert Atkinson, ITIF
9:50 am – 10:00 am: Remarks by Scott Wallsten, TPI
8:45 am – 9:50 am: ICT and Internet Policy Priorities
Ambassador David Gross, Partner, Wiley Rein
Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen, Federal Trade Commission
Shane Tews, Visiting Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Robert Atkinson, President, ITIF (moderator)
10:00 am– 11:00 am: Telecommunications Policy Priorities
Carolyn Brandon, Senior Industry and Innovation Fellow Georgetown University McDonough School of Business
David Goldman, Chief Counsel for Communications, House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology
Thomas Hazlett, H.H. Macaulay Endowed Professor of Economics, Clemson University
Bryan Tramont, Managing Partner, Wilkinson Barker Knauer
Scott Wallsten, President and Senior Fellow, TPI (moderator)
Antitrust authorities around the world are targeting global technology companies. This conference will examine the competitive environment in which tech companies operate and how antitrust affects innovation in this critically important sector. Do certain characteristics of the sector, such as reliance on platforms and large amounts of data, warrant special scrutiny? What role should antitrust play in regulating standards and licensing of standard-related intellectual property? What is the role of the U.S. and the new administration’s antitrust officials in a global economy in which enforcement, legal standards and procedures vary across countries and competition agencies? Join us for a discussion of these and related issues at “Competition and Innovation in the Digital Economy: Global Policy Considerations.”
Opening remarks will be given by former Federal Trade Commission Chairman William Kovacic, who is currently Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy; Professor of Law; and Director, Competition Law Center at George Washington University School of Law.
Panel 1 – Competition Policy in the Global Economy
Susan Creighton, Partner and Co-Chair, Antitrust Practice, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Geoffrey Manne, Executive Director, International Center for Law and Economics
Lawrence White, Robert Kavesh Professor of Economics and Deputy Chair, Economics Department, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University
Panel 2 – Standards, Standard Essential Patents and Innovation: The Role of Antitrust
Scott Kieff, Commissioner, U.S. International Trade Commission
Timothy Simcoe, Associate Professor of Strategy and Innovation, Questrom School of Business, Boston University
Alan Devlin, Acting Deputy Director, Competition Bureau, Federal Trade Commission
Additional speakers will be announced soon.
Hosted by the Progressive Policy Institute & Technology Policy Institute
Many Americans have grown skeptical of the benefits of participating in the global economy. Yet for good reason, they do not embrace economic isolation and protectionism.
Please join the Progressive Policy Institute and Technology Policy Institute for a bipartisan discussion on Capitol Hill exploring why it is vital to turn the current debate on the costs and benefits of trade—which too often connotes only tangible products crossing borders—into a broader discussion about the necessity of global connections in a modern, high-tech economy. Global connections go beyond the conventional analysis of exports and imports, and include the impact of data flows, foreign investment, knowledge, and other intangibles that can stimulate growth and create jobs locally.
The event will feature keynote addresses by two Members of Congress, one from each side of the aisle, on the importance of global connections. Dr. Michael Mandel of PPI will examine the evidence linking global connections and economic growth, and explain why thinking of the global economy in terms of exports and imports is simply wrong.
Following the keynotes, a panel of experts will discuss how data flows and other tangible and intangible global connections can work together to benefit companies, industries, and workers and how these connections can promote prosperity. The event will highlight how the new political landscape is likely to affect these issues moving forward and discuss policies that could help more Americans benefit from the connected global economy.
Keynote Speakers:
The Honorable Suzan DelBene (D-WA)
The Honorable Edward Royce (R-CA), Chairman, U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Remarks:
Dr. Michael Mandel, Chief Economic Strategist, PPI
Panelists:
Ed Gerwin, Senior Fellow, PPI
J. Bradford Jensen, Professor, McDonough School at Georgetown University
Nancy McLernon, President & CEO, Organization for International Investment
Scott Wallsten, President & Senior Fellow, TPI
Event and Press Contacts:
Amy Smorodin, 202-828-4405, [email protected]
Cody Tucker, 202-525-3926, [email protected]
Co-hosted with Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition, University of Pennsylvania Law School
The Federal Communications Commission under Chairman Ajit Pai has started the process of undoing the internet regulation of the last administration. The recent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is soliciting comments regarding everything from the legal reasoning for removing the common carrier status to what, if any, “bright line rules” the agency should entertain keeping. This event, co-hosted with the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition, will explore what’s ahead for the internet and internet users in a post-internet regulation world.
Last January TPI and CTIC convened a group of prominent scholars to address the question: The Future of the Internet Ecosystem in a Post-Open Internet Order World. These papers are now being published in a special issue of the Review of Industrial Organization, which will be available in June. Speakers at the event will include select authors, who will discuss their papers in light of current developments.
Speakers are:
Michelle Connolly, Professor of the Practice of Economics, Duke University and former Chief Economist, Federal Communications Commission
Robert Crandall, Adjunct Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute and Nonresident Senior Fellow, Economic Studies program, Brookings Institution
Michael Katz, Sarin Chair in Strategy and Leadership, Professor, Department of Economics, Director, Center for Telecommunications and Digital Convergence, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, former Chief Economist, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice and former Chief Economist, Federal Communication Commission
Joshua Wright, Executive Director, Global Antitrust Institute, University Professor, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University and former Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission
Christopher Yoo, John H. Chestnut Professor of Law, Communication, and Computer & Information Science and Director, Center for Technology, Innovation & Competition, University of Pennsylvania Law School
Thomas Lenard (moderator), Senior Fellow and President Emeritus, Technology Policy Institute
How to define “broadband” is a key part of today’s policy debates. The debate tends to focus solely on bandwidth and generally downplays consumer preferences. A new paper by TPI President Scott Wallsten and Indiana University Kelly School of Business coauthors Jeffrey Prince and Yu-Hsin Liu sheds light on these issues by estimating empirically how consumers value various attributes of broadband, including bandwidth, latency, and data caps.
Please join the Technology Policy Institute as Wallsten and Prince present their paper findings “Distinguishing Bandwidth and Latency in Households’ Willingness to-Pay for Broadband Internet Speed.”
Lunch will be provided.
*All guests must register in order to attend.
Competition and IP together comprise perhaps the most crucial aspects of policy affecting incentives to innovate, which are key to economic growth and well-being. Congress and the Administration face several challenges whose outcomes are likely to affect innovation incentives for some time to come. This conference will focus on two of these.
The first involves potential new patent legislation. There are conflicting views about the effects of past patent legislation, court decisions, and reforms at the U.S. Patent Office and whether additional Congressional action is needed and, if so, what that legislation should include. The second involves controversial policies regarding standard setting organizations and the licensing of standard-related intellectual property adopted by the Antitrust Division during the last administration. Will Congress and the Administration focus on new legislation and will they change the approach to standards-setting and licensing set by the previous administration? This conference will explore these issues. Lunch will be provided.
Panel 1 – Patent Reform: What Needs Changing?
Tina Chappell, Associate General Counsel and Global Director of Intellectual Property Policy, Intel Corp.
Tyler Grimm, Legislative Director, Darrell Issa, Representative, California
Paul Michel, Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (retired)
Jamie Simpson, Counsel, Senate Judiciary Committee
Panel 2 – Standard Setting and IP: Competition Policy Considerations
Andrew Finch, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, Department of Justice
Caroline Holland, Tech Policy Fellow, Mozilla Foundation
Tad Lipsky, Adjunct Professor, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Urška Petrovčič, Senior Consultant, Criterion Economics
Companies in STEM fields are creating gender-neutral job advertisements to cultivate diverse applicant pools…but it doesn’t seem to be working. Is it enough to create an advertisement and send it off into the world, or should companies be more thoughtful in how and where they place it? Lambrecht and Tucker examine how commonplace advertising techniques may be inadvertently biasing applicant pools for coveted – and overwhelmingly male – STEM jobs.
Please join the Technology Policy Institute as Dr. Catherine Tucker presents her paper “Algorithmic Bias? An Empirical Study into Apparent Gender-Based Discrimination in the Display of STEM Career Ads.” Dr. Tucker is the Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management Science and Professor of Marketing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Tucker’s presentation from the event is located here.
Dr. Margrét Bjarnadóttir will offer comments afterwards. Dr. Bjarnadóttir is a Professor of Management Science and Statistics Decision in the Operations and Information Technologies Department at UMD’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. She also co-founded PayAnalytics, which promotes pay equity using data driven algorithms. *Dr. Bjarnadóttir was unable to attend, you may find Dr. Wallstens presentation from the event here.
Antitrust has, almost overnight, become the subject of an intense policy debate, driven by the growth of populist sentiment combined with the emergence of economically and politically powerful companies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft.
One side argues that standard economics-based antitrust enforcement has allowed these companies to amass too much economic and political power. This side favors expanding the scope and goals of antitrust or, at a minimum, making enforcement significantly more assertive than it is today.
The other side argues that the current standards and goals of antitrust, which focus on consumer welfare, have largely served consumers and competition well. This side believes that our current approach to antitrust can address whatever competition problems arise, even with the large digital platforms.
This conference will bring together a group of prominent scholars to address the following questions that define this debate:
1. Is there a platform monopoly problem (or at least one not addressed by current antitrust enforcement)? How does the concept of “platform monopoly” relate to the traditional approach of defining antitrust markets?2. Is the consumer welfare standard, which has guided antitrust enforcement, still sufficient.
3. Do agencies sufficiently incorporate effects on innovation into merger reviews?
4. Is Big Data an antitrust problem?
10:30 AM Panel – Antitrust and the Platform Economy
Presenters:
Michael Katz, Sarin Chair in Strategy and Leadership Emeritus, Department of Economics, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley
Diana Moss, President, American Antitrust Institute
Howard Shelanski, Professor of Law, Georgetown Law
Joshua Wright, University Professor and Executive Director, Global Antitrust Institute, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Discussant:
Lawrence White, Robert Kavesh Professor of Economics, Stern School of Business
**Due to a scheduling conflict, AAG Makin Delrahim will no longer be keynoting this event.**
The NTIA has released its Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFO), which specifies how the $42.25 billion of BEAD funds will be allocated to the states, what types of services will be eligible to receive subsidies, and how the states should go about distributing funds. The rules laid out in the 98-page document will have large and lasting effects on broadband deployment and on how the federal and state governments will interact with broadband providers. This panel of experts discussed the ins and outs of the NOFO and what it means for the BEAD funding applications from the 50 states and 6 eligible entities.
Panelists included:
Join the Technology Policy Institute for a Happy Hour celebration on May the Fourth, also known as Star Wars Day!
We're bringing together tech enthusiasts, policy experts, and Star Wars fans alike to enjoy drinks and light bites.
Whether you're a Jedi Knight or a Sith Lord, this is the perfect opportunity to mingle and network. And for those who prefer a more intimate setting, we'll have plenty of space for introverts, just like Yoda.
So join us as we raise a glass to the Force and toast to the future of tech policy!
Laura Martin, senior entertainment and internet analyst at Needham & Company, will discuss her predictions of winners and losers among broadcast, cable, satellite and streaming services.This year, TPI's 11th Annual Aspen Forum will be virtual and is scheduled for October 19-23. TPI Aspen brings together experts across business, industry, and government to discuss how tech policy and regulation impact daily life. Through panel discussions and fireside chats, participants discuss experiences with tech policy—what worked, what did not, what we still need to understand, and how policy can make technology work for everyone.
2020 has been an unprecedented year. This year’s forum will explore topics at the top of the regulatory agenda and provide context for decision makers as we navigate a “new normal” and an election year.
Due to COVID-19, Aspen Forum will be held virtually. We hope that everyone remains safe and healthy as we navigate through a new normal.
