Presented at
The Eleventh HOPE (2016),
July 23, 2016, 11 a.m.
(60 minutes)
This spring, the FCC's net neutrality rules were upheld in court, giving the commission license to regulate the Internet as a public utility and ensure that all users are treated fairly. However, the question remains as to exactly how net neutrality should be implemented and how well the concept applies to not only the Internet of today, but tomorrow. Panelists will discuss the tensions between applying the idea of net neutrality to the pragmatics of the Internet's operations and the very real social and policy consequences of such decisions. By combining and contrasting legal, activist, technical, journalistic, and academic perspectives, they will dig deep into the thoughts and aims behind net neutrality and derive a more nuanced and effective assessment of what is needed to create an Internet that works for everyone. The panelists have discussed, taught, and deliberated these issues in university, government, and social settings, and boast employment/affiliations with MIT, Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, ACM, IEEE, Columbia University's School of Journalism, VICE Media, May First/People Link, and Public Knowledge.
Presenters:
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Alfredo López
as Alfredo Lopez
During his nearly half-century career of movement activism, organization, and writing, Alfredo Lopez has been a leader in the Puerto Rican independence, labor, and antiwar movements, an organizer of several major national demonstrations and scores of smaller ones, editor of two publications (Claridad and Sevendays Magazine), a radio and television producer/host, a college professor, and author of six published books and hundreds of published articles. He is a founder and leader of May First/People Link, the largest political progressive Internet membership organization in the U.S., and in that capacity he has helped shape much of May First's service provision system (including the 130 virtual server system shared by May First members), helped develop the organization's how-to and help systems, and participated in developing its suite of free and open-source software that the organization makes available to its members. Alfredo is a prominent leader in the struggle over net neutrality and has organized rallies, teach-ins, and congressional lobbying visits to push for its protection, and writes extensively on issues like privacy, data protection, net neutrality, and open access for the online publication This Can't Be Happening. He currently serves on the board of the Center for Media Justice, is a member of the steering committee of MAGNet (the Media Action Grassroots Network), and is a member of the National Planning Committee of the U.S. Social Forum.
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Jesse Sowell
Jesse Sowell holds a PhD in technology, management, and policy from MIT's Engineering Systems Division, and will be joining Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) as cybersecurity policy fellow in October. His dissertation evaluated common resource management institutions that sustain the integrity of the Internet's routing system, and documented the authoritative institutions these communities have developed for managing information resources such as numbers and routing information.
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Jeremy Pesner
Jeremy Pesner is a multidisciplinary technologist, researcher, policy analyst, and gamer who holds a BS in computer science from Dickinson College and an MA in communication, culture, and technology from Georgetown University. He is fascinated by questions and implications of technology, media, and games across entertainment, education, and the blending of arts and science. He has worked for educational games company E-Line media and helped to run the Music and Gaming Education Symposium at the Music and Gaming Festival for the past six years, where he has spoken and demonstrated extensively on how to evaluate player experiences in video games. He is also passionate about other technology issues like broadband, technological innovation, and how technology can make a positive difference in lives throughout the world.
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Sam Gustin
Sam Gustin is a journalist focused on the intersection of business, technology, media, and public policy. He is currently a correspondent at Vice Motherboard and previously worked for Time, Wired, and other publications, where he reported on the nation's largest technology and telecom companies and their relationships with the government. He has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and a BA in political science from Reed College. From 2014 to 2015, Sam was a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, where he focused his research on U.S. communications policy, with a particular emphasis on community broadband networks.
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Bob Frankston
Bob Frankston was born in Brooklyn, New York, graduated from MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts with degrees in computer science and electrical engineering, and is on the Board of Governors and is a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Consumer Electronics Society. He has been online since 1966, was co-developer of the first electronic spreadsheet (VisiCalc), and has been honored by the IEEE for his contributions to home networking while at Microsoft. At Microsoft, he took the initiative to give people control of their home networking and developed the worldwide standard for how we connect our computers to the Internet. Since leaving Microsoft, Bob has done angel investing, consulting, and advising, and currently works with entrepreneurs and established companies on the issues we face as we transition to a software-defined connected world.
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Kate Forscey
Kate Forscey joined Public Knowledge as an Internet Rights Fellow in April 2014, and transitioned to her role as Associate Counsel for Government Affairs in April 2015. Kate advocates for the public interest on Internet and technology policy and government affairs, including net neutrality, video and broadband competition, spectrum policy, and other issues crucial to preserving an open Internet and consumer digital rights. Prior to joining PK, Kate worked on Internet and technology issues for the Open Internet Coalition as a summer associate for Holch and Erickson, focusing primarily on the FCC's 2010 open Internet proceeding. Kate received her JD from Vanderbilt University Law School in 2012 and holds a BA in psychology with a focus in psychobiology from the University of Virginia College of Arts and Sciences.
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