Broadband

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.

The familiar remedies often suggested to address perceived privacy issues are ill-suited to the world of big data and are potentially a serious barrier to much of the innovation we hope to see from the big data revolution, states Technology Policy Institute President Thomas Lenard in comments filed today with the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

A Government Spectrum Ownership Corporation (GSOC) should be established to lease spectrum to government agencies, much in the same way as the General Services Administration (GSA) does with real estate, explain Thomas Lenard and Lawrence White in comments filed today with the Office of Science and Technology Policy. The goal would be to provide incentives for government agencies to economize on spectrum use and free up spectrum for the private sector.