The Arts+Labs New Media, New Networks policy forum is here. (Recorded Oct. 29th, 2009)

New Media, New Networks Presented by Arts + Labs and GSPM's Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet from GSPM on Vimeo.

By Arts+Labs Co-Chairs Mike McCurry & Mark McKinnon

Late yesterday, Google and Arts+Labs member Verizon issued a joint statement ("Finding Common Ground on an Open Internet") by Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam and Google CEO Eric Schmidt.  While significant policy differences remain, Verizon and Google agreed that there is much more that unites us than separates us. AT&T, another Arts+Labs member, echoed that sentiment this afternoon suggesting that the FCC has allayed a number of its concerns in its adoption of draft rules regarding the preservation of a free and open Internet, and expressing hope that the possibility of consensus within the Internet industry on key net neutrality issues will inform the FCC's rulemaking process going forward. There are many important points throughout the Google/Verizon joint statement, but we'll highlight the central areas of agreement.

After noting that the key factors driving innovation on the web are the common programming language and private investment to improve infrastructure, Google and Verizon list their areas of agreement.

1. "[U]sers should continue to have the final say about their web experience, from the networks and software they use, to the hardware they plug in to the Internet and the services they access online."
2. "[A]dvanced and open networks are essential to the future development of the Web", as are "Policies that continue to provide incentives for investment and innovation..."
3. [T]he FCC's existing wireline broadband principles make clear that users are in charge of all aspects of their Internet experience--from access to apps and content" and the FCC should "establish that these existing principles are enforceable, and implement them on a case-by-case basis."
4. "[F]lexibility in government policy is key" and we need to avoid "overly detailed rules" that attempt "to predict every possible scenario and address every possible concern" because it "can have unintended consequences."
5. "[B]roadband network providers should have the flexibility to manage their networks to deal with issues like traffic congestion, spam, "malware" and denial of service attacks, as well as other threats that may emerge in the future -- so long as they do it reasonably, consistent with their customers' preferences, and don't unreasonably discriminate in ways that either harm users or are anti-competitive. They should also be free to offer managed network services, such as IP television."
6. "[T]ransparency is a must. Chairman Genachowski has proposed adding this principle to the FCC's guidelines, and we both support this step. All providers of broadband access, services and applications should provide their customers with clear information about their offerings."
   

Arts+Labs is enouraged to see this sign of convergence around some of the central principles we have advocated. This is clear evidence that the rhetoric that FTC Chairman Jon Leobowitz referred to as "dystopian nightmares" is now fading and being replaced with a serious, rational policy discussion among stakeholders and policymakers. In fact, Chairman Leibowitz' May 2009 remarks now seem like a good description of where we are at today.

"We believe consumers need to have notice and consent about what they are getting. So it is very, very important that these providers tell consumers now about the speed that they are getting and whether they are making any types of management decisions in terms of the network."

He added that "broadband is a deregulated product. That's good.  We like deregulation generally."

We believe this recognition by Google that we all have a critically important role to play in developing the smart, sophisticated Internet of the future is a positive sign that the FCC's existing policy framework is solid and our focus going forward should be on defining transparency, managed services and the role of wireless networks.

Arts+Labs is hopeful that we continue to see this emerging consensus around FCC guidelines that enable everybody - network, application, service and content providers - to give consumers more choices and better products. Smarter networks enable content and application providers to deliver better products and services to consumers.  Better products and applications increase the demand for better, faster and smarter networks.  These outcomes work well for consumers, providers and the public interest.

The key will be flexibility in government policymaking, as at least 3 of the key stakeholders have noted in the past 24 hours.  Rigid rules and regulation will thwart the innovation and creativity that makes the Internet so vital.  We hope the FCC will move forward in that spirit, and we similarly hope that other participants in the debate will resist any new rules that would deprive operators of the flexibility necessary for reasonable and effective network management in order to meet users' needs.
 
The role of the FCC is not to limit our ability to innovate and evolve, but to facilitate our ability to innovate and evolve together.  We welcome policies that accomplish that goal.

- Mike McCurry and Mark McKinnon

REGISTER FOR THIS TECH POLICY FORUM HERE

Arts+Labs and GWU's Institute for Politics, Democracy & The Internet are proud to sponsor a network and technology policy forum, New Media, New Networks: The Evolution of Content on the Internet, moderated by former FCC Chairman Richard Wiley. It will be held at George Washington University on Thursday, October 29th from 9am to 12noon.

You can register for the event here.

Breakfast and Welcome (9:00-9:30)

Panel #1 - Networks for the Future (9:30-10:30) - The Importance of Wired and Wireless Next Generation Networks, deployment, capacity, interactivity, consumer choice and content.  Panelists:

• Bret Swanson (Entropy Economics, WSJ Contributor)
• S. Derek Turner (Research Director, Free Press)
• Robert Curtis (FCC Director, Network Deployment)
• Christopher Yoo (Director, Center for Technology, Innovation, and Competition at the University of Pennsylvania Law School)

Q&A Session (10:30-10:45)

Panel #2 - Network Management and Delivering for the Consumer (10:45-11:45) - The evolving role of the networks - better, smarter, faster. Panelists:

• Richard Bennett (Research Fellow, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation)
• Robb Topolski (Chief Technologist of the Open Technology Initiative at the New America Foundation)
• Dave Farber (Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and Public Policy at the School of Computer Science, Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University)
• Harold Feld (Legal Director of Public Knowledge)

Q&A Session (11:45 - 12:00)

At Broadcasting & Cable, Mark McKinnon and Mike McCurry write about the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for net neutrality, and particularly the barriers it could impose to digital commerce and creative rights.

The proposed bar on customized services, which are common throughout the U.S. economy, is especially puzzling given that the Commission's own Broadband Task Force has publicly observed that different Internet applications have different quality of service requirements. Some require substantial bandwidth, others are latency sensitive, and still others are dependent on speed. Increasingly, creators of applications, software and other online content are partnering with network operators in the early stages of development to better match capabilities and needs.  The proposed rules would choke off this beneficial trend.

Such rules also would effectively cripple the creative industry's ability to compete with "free" content by offering consumers a higher quality experience. The creative community is actively experimenting with new business models, including free advertising-supported content, subscription-based content, streaming content, downloaded content, and pay-per-view content, that aim to provide consumers the content they want, when they want it while also providing content creators the continued incentive to invest in new movies, new music and other types of entertainment that consumers want. However, the distribution of multimedia content over the Internet is still in its infancy. The potential rule would foreclose options by government fiat, limiting the services available to consumers and curtailing the creation of new content by eliminating potential revenue sources to fund it.

Read the whole thing here.