Attempts to mitigate the harms associated with digital piracy have yielded a variety of approaches, including legal digital sales channels, government intervention (such as the shutdown of Megaupload), and voluntary industry-level cooperation (such as the Copyright Alert System in the U.S.). Participants on the panel “Copyright Protection: Government vs. Voluntary Arrangements” at this year’s TPI Aspen Forum will discuss empirical evidence on the effectiveness of these initiatives, and legal and policy theories regarding the appropriateness of these initiatives to serve the interests of the creative industries, the technology industries, and society.
Miscellaneous
Aspen Panel: Political Economy of Telecom Reform
Calls for a new Telecommunications Act have been growing, with proponents citing problems with the FCC’s “siloed” structure in light of the increasing convergence of industries that compete in each other’s markets. However, similar concerns motivated the 1996 legislation. How has the political landscape changed since the 1996 Act, and can new legislation be successful? Participants on the panel, “Political Economy of Telecom Reform” at this year’s TPI Aspen Forum will discuss such questions as: what, beyond market and technological changes, is motivating calls for telecom reform now; how can the process surrounding the 1996 Act inform development of a new Act today; what interest groups are involved, what are their incentives, and how have these groups and their interests changed since 1996?
Aspen Panel: Targeting a Secure Future
No government agency or private corporation is immune today from cyber-attack, network penetration and loss of sensitive data. The panel “Targeting a Secure Future” at this year’s TPI Aspen Forum will examine whether the current approach to cyber-security is making any headway against this epidemic. Panelists, including key federal policymakers and private sector experts, will explore the government’s responsibility to protect the private sector as well as companies’ obligations (and abilities) to protect their own networks. Given that an effective public-private partnership is broadly viewed as necessary to advance cybersecurity, the panelists will also address whether treating companies that have been hacked as culprits, rather than victims, is sound public policy.
Aspen Panel – Internet Governance in Transition: What’s the Destination?
The U.S. government’s decision to relinquish its historic role in Internet governance has raised questions regarding what’s next for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and, more generally, who will be making policy decisions about the future of the Internet. The panel “Internet Governance in Transition: What’s the Destination?” at the Technology Policy Institute’s 2014 Aspen Forum, will bring together a diverse group of experts to discuss critical internet governance issues.
Undermining Transparency at the FCC
Nancy Pelosi famously said about the Affordable Care Act, “We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it.” That would be a generous description of business-as-usual at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). It can take weeks, and sometimes months, for the Commission to release an order they voted on. Even worse, the published and enforceable order is not what the commissioners voted on, but some version of it that hasn’t seen sunlight until the day it shows up in the Federal Register.
Aspen Panel: Innovation and Privacy in the Era of Big Data
Advances in the ability to collect and analyze massive amounts of data is revolutionizing the way data are used in both the both the public and private sectors. In the past year, both the White House and the Federal Trade Commission have released reports on this issue, both touting the benefits of big data while warning of possible consumer harms. Participants on the panel “Innovation and Privacy in the Era of Big Data” at this year’s TPI Aspen Forum will address questions related to big data.
Internet governance in transition: What’s the destination?
The U.S. government’s decision to relinquish its historic role in Internet governance has set in motion a transition with no clear resolution. The Department of Commerce has asked the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to “convene stakeholders across the global Internet community to craft an appropriate transition plan,” but where this will lead is anyone’s guess. What is clear is that the transition provides both the opportunity for, and the necessity of, undertaking a fundamental reevaluation of ICANN’s accountability mechanisms.