Federal
Telecommunications Policy
The
Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the most profound
reordering of U.S. telecommunications policy in nearly
seventy years. Now more than ten years later, the Act is being rethought, with
industry representatives and legislators focused on updating telecommunications policy for the Internet era. One of the key issues under discussion
in 2007 is the concept of "net neutrality."
Readings:
Dodd,
Chapter 3, "Industry Overview."
The Broadband Fact Book, on E-res.
Telecommunications Bills in Congress, Policy Update site by The Free Press, at http://www.freepress.net/policy_updates/congress_center.
Look at the Web site "Speed Matters," at http://www.speedmatters.org/.
"A Blueprint for Big Broadband," on E-res.
Framing a National Broadband Policy," by Robert D. Atkinson, president, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, January 18, 2008, at http://commlaw.cua.edu//articles/v16/16.1/Atkinson.pdf.
"Broadband: other countries do it better, but how?" by Nate Anderson, Ars Technica, May 11, 2008, at http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080511-broadband-other-countries-do-it-better-but-how.html.
Review the communications infrastructure section on Barack Obama's Presidential Web site, at http://www.barackobama.com/issues/technology/#modern-communications.
Technology Voters' Guide: John McCain, at CNet News.com, at http://news.cnet.com/Technology-Voters-Guide-John-McCain/2100-1028_3-6224285.html.
"Top Tech Issues of the Presidential Campaign," by Chloe Albanesius, PC Magazine, June 5, 2008, at http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0%2C2817%2C2316835%2C00.asp.
Skim
the "Net Neutrality Primer" by R. Michael Senkowski,
Rebekah P. Goodheart, Shawn A. Bone and Jennifer R. Schaum of Wiley,
Rein and Fielding law firm, May 2006, at http://www.wrf.com/docs/publications/12598.pdf.
Look
at the anti-net neutrality Web site "Hands off the Internet,"
at http://www.handsoff.org/. (If you have a fast
Internet connection, look at this group's television
ad at http://handsoff.org/hoti_docs/media/roaddc.mov.)
Look at the pro net-neutrality Web site "Save the Internet," at http://www.savetheinternet.com/.
Look at the Web site for the Open Internet Coalition, at http://www.openinternetcoalition.org/, and particularly the link on the navigation bar, "Who We Are."
Robert Atkinson and Philip Weiser: "A third way on network neutrality," The New Atlantis, Summer 2006. On E-res.
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