The University of Texas at Austin

Event: Internet Policy for the Next Adminstration

Speaker(s): Howard Shelanski & Marc Rotenberg

Date: April 21, 2008

Length: 124 minutes

Description: Howard Shelanski discussed challenges for U.S. broadband policy in terms of competition, investment and innovation. Noting the large amount of convergence taking place, where consumers are demanding and getting many services without respect to individual platforms—for example, email and internet access through mobile phones—Shelanski stressed that the challenge for policy makers is to ensure that alternative platforms compete and innovate rather than consolidate and discriminate. Asserting that regulatory benefits decline as competition increases, he called for a move away from across-the-board regulations toward a case-by-case focus that will examine the benefits of regulation and their effects on decreasing distortions in competition. On the issue of “network neutrality,” Shelanski argued that the high degree of uncertainty should lead to a policy based on such uncertainty and not on the extremes or absolutes in positions.

Marc Rotenberg discussed privacy and security concerns surrounding current internet policy. He pointed to the numerous simmering debates—such as those over the REAL ID program, the domestic surveillance program and online advertising and behavioral targeting—and new initiatives currently in the spotlight and called for greater action in defending privacy as technology becomes more and more able to intrude in private life and store massive amounts of personal information.

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