Broadband Breakfast on February 7, 2024 – Congress, Net Neutrality and Privacy
Sharply divided views pour in following the FCC’s proposal to reinstate the once-scrapped regulation
The battle over net neutrality rages on as sharply divided views pour in following the FCC’s proposal to reinstate the once-scrapped regulation. In recent pitches, the Democratic-led agency has touted classifying broadband providers as Title II common carriers rather than information services – the crux of the net neutrality debate – would also safeguard customer privacy and public safety. But this would grant the FCC oversight powers that some argue fall outside its remit. What does the internet landscape look like presently, especially after Congress just pumped billions of dollars into expanding broadband access?
Panelists
- Harold Feld, Senior Vice President, Public Knowledge
- Roslyn Layton, Executive Vice President, Strand Consult
- Matt Wood, Vice President of Policy and General Counsel, Free Press
- Eric Fruits, Senior Scholar, International Center for Law & Economics
- Drew Clark (moderator), Editor and Publisher, Broadband Breakfast
Harold Feld is Senior Vice President of Public Knowledge, a DC based non-profit that promotes free expression, an open internet, and access to affordable communications tools and creative works. He has over 25 years experience in telecommunications and technology law.
Roslyn Layton, PhD is Executive Vice President of Strand Consult and Visiting Researcher at Aalborg University’s Centre for Communication, Media and Information Technologies in Copenhagen, Denmark. She leads Strand Consult’s Global Project for Broadband Cost Recovery, Fair Share, and Affordability which studies business models and policy for broadband financial sustainability and adoption across countries. Her PhD measured net neutrality and innovation across 53 countries (see summary). Roslyn has served as Chair of the Program Committee of the Telecom Policy Research Conference and as a member of the International Telecommunications Society. She is a Fellow of the National Security Institute at George Mason University and the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue University. She advises the Foundation for American Innovation on enabling the next generation of non-incumbent technologies.
Matt Wood helps to shape Free Press's efforts to protect the open internet, prevent media concentration, promote affordable broadband deployment, and safeguard press freedom. Before joining the organization, he worked at the public interest law firm Media Access Project and in the communications practice groups of two private law firms in Washington, D.C. Before that, he served as an editor-in-chief for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, worked for PBS, and spent time at several professional and college radio and television stations.
Eric Fruits, Ph.D. is a Senior Scholar at the International Center for Law & Economics where he focuses on telecom and competition policy. He has written extensively on the ACP and BEAD as well as the FCC’s recent digital discrimination rules and proposal to regulate broadband under Title II. He also writes a near-weekly Telecom Hootenanny on the world of telecom—because hootenannies are way more fun that roundups.
Breakfast Media LLC CEO Drew Clark has led the Broadband Breakfast community since 2008. An early proponent of better broadband, better lives, he initially founded the Broadband Census crowdsourcing campaign for broadband data. As Editor and Publisher, Clark presides over the leading media company advocating for higher-capacity internet everywhere through topical, timely and intelligent coverage. Clark also served as head of the Partnership for a Connected Illinois, a state broadband initiative.
