Gerald Faulhaber, Professor Emeritus at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Law School, discusses his new paper in Communications & Convergence Review entitled Economics of Net Neutrality: A Review. Faulhaber delves into the network neutrality debate noting that consumers do not want complete neutrality since they approve of ISPs blocking content such as child pornography or malware. He explains that there is little evidence that violations of net neutrality have actually occurred, so that consumers today are getting as much neutrality as they want. Faulhaber submits that implementing prophylactic regulations will only stifle innovation and encourage rent seeking.

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Related Links

• Economics of Net Neutrality: A Review, by Faulhaber
• “FCC makes Net neutrality rules official”, cnet.com
• “Getting a Fix on Network Neutrality”, knowledge@wharton

Adam Thierer, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in the Technology Policy Program, reviews the past year in technology policy and looks ahead to next year. Thierer first weighs in on net neutrality and upcoming FCC deliberations could that hatch a new regulatory regime for the internet. He then talks Google and antitrust, the proposed Comcast-NBC merger, and disputes between broadcasters and content providers. He also suggests that two issues — privacy and cyber security — will be at the forefront of tech policy debates in the coming year, pointing to support for do-not-track rules and to recent WikiLeaks and state secrets drama as momentum behind the respective issues.


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Related Links

• “The 5-Part Case against Net Neutrality Regulation”, by Thierer
• “The 10 Most Important Info-Tech Policy Books of 2010″, by Thierer
• “Online Privacy Regulation:
  Likely More Complicated (And Costlier) Than Imagined”, by Thierer

• “And so the IP & Porn Wars Give Way to the Privacy & Cybersecurity Wars”, by Thierer

Timothy B. Lee, PhD candidate in computer science at Princeton University and fellow at Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy, discusses a variety of issues.  Lee parses new net neutrality nuances, addressing recent debate over prioritization of internet services.  He also discusses wireless spectrum policy, comparing and contrasting a strict property rights model to a commons one.  Lee concludes by weighing in on potential software patent reform, referencing Paul Allen’s wide-ranging patent-infringement lawsuits and the Oracle-Google tiff over Java patents.


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Related Links

• Bottom-Up, Lee’s long-form blog about, among other things, technology policy
• The Durable Internet: Preserving Network Neutrality without Regulation, by Lee
• “Why Business Should Oppose Net Neutrality”, by Robert Litan and Hal Singer
• “Good Spectrum News from the Obama Administration”, by Jerry Ellig
• “Paul Allen’s Lawsuits: What’s up With That?”, at PC World

Rob Frieden, Pioneers Chair and Professor of Telecommunication and Law at Penn State University, discusses internet applications,  content providers, and net neutrality. The discussion also turns to the history of telecom regulation, the Comcast/BitTorrent controversy, and the limits of the FCC’s regulatory authority.


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Related Links

• Why the FCC’s Proposed Openness Principles Cannot and Should Not Apply to Internet Application and Content Providers by Rob Frieden
• Net Neutrality at Wikipedia
• Comcast’s BitTorrent Controversy at Wikipedia
• BitTorrent at Wikipedia
• National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X Internet Services (the Brand X Case) at Wikipedia
• Communications Act of 1934 and Telecommunications Act of 1996 at Wikipedia
• DC Circuit not buying FCC’s claimed authority by Jerry Brito at SurprisinglyFree.com
• Section 230 at Wikipedia