Telecom & Technology

International Summit for Community Wireless Networks 2008

Communications — Wed, 28 May 2008 13:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
05/28/2008 - 4:00pm

The New America Foundation/Wireless Future Program is pleased to announce that the International Summit for Community Wireless Networks (ISC4CWN) will be held on May 28th – May 30th, 2008 in Washington, DC.

Co-hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) at its downtown headquarters, IS4CWN is the largest gathering of community wireless networking developers, implementers and allies working to build universal, low-cost wireless broadband networks around the world. The Summit serves as an integral lynch pin for connecting and supporting an alliance between technologists, government leaders and community advocates implementing wireless networks worldwide, and providing a rare international forum for discussion of technology, policy and practical solutions to problems facing community wireless.

Since the first National Summit for Community Wireless Networks in 2004, over 300 Community Internet and municipal broadband projects have sprung up in the United States alone. Previous summits have also helped to spur the development of community wireless networks in places such as Chile and Venezuela, Ghana and South Africa, and throughout Europe. This year’s Summit will focus on how these networks can better serve their target populations, the policies needed to support broader deployment of community wireless systems, and the latest technological and software innovations.

For more information and to register, please visit the conference website.

Google Unwired (LIVE WEBCAST)

Communications — Wed, 21 May 2008 22:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
05/22/2008 - 9:00am

With Google, Larry Page has gone a long way toward achieving the audacious goal he and co-founder Sergey Brin set for the company: "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible."

One of his current goals is equally ambitious: making the Internet itself accessible, anywhere and anytime, through pervasive and affordable wireless broadband networks. Page has helped lead Google's efforts over the past year to pry open both unused TV airwaves and closed cellular networks to promote wireless broadband competition and consumer choice.

In an interview-style discussion with New America's Michael Calabrese, Page will describe Google's strategy for expanding access to the Internet and allocating spectrum more efficiently -- and explain why opening the vacant TV channels for unlicensed access after next February's DTV transition is the most important thing the FCC can do this year to promote broadband deployment and tech sector innovation.

Watch the Event -- and Ask Your Questions -- Online

This event will be broadcast live on the web through UStream.tv. Online viewers will be able to submit questions and make comments via UStream's real-time chat.

We are also taking questions in advance -- and allowing interested users to "vote up" their favorites -- using the Berkman Center for Internet and Society's Question Tool. Please submit your questions, and check back often between now and May 22.

Note: The latest version of Adobe Flash Player is required to view the live video. If you see a plain blue box at right, rather than a video player, please be sure to upgrade to Flash Player 9.

Can Technology Save Intellectual Property Without Crippling Our Culture?

adminn — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:16:00 -0400

The easy knock on Tarleton Gillespie's Wired Shut: Copyright and the Shape of Digital Culture is that it seems dated. In walking the reader through the many issues and arguments of digital copyright, Gillespie focuses on three seminal attempts at Digital Rights Management -- the Recording Industry Association of America's failed Secure Digital Music Initiative, moviemakers' somewhat more successful efforts to lock down DVDs, and the major television networks' push to require "broadcast flags" on digital television signals. All three battles, while important, were waged years ago; more recent, equally relevant examples are touched on briefly or not at… more

The Music Industry's Extortion Scheme

Ron Tang — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:40:00 -0400

What would you do if a bully -- let's call him "Joey Giggles" -- kept snatching your ice-cream cone? OK, now what if Joey Giggles then told you, "If you pay me five bucks a month, I'll stop snatching your ice cream." Depending on how much you hate getting beaten up, and how much you love ice-cream cones, you might decide that caving in is the way to go. This is what's called a protection racket. It's also potentially the new model for how we'll buy and listen to music.

Let's back up for a second. Four companies (Universal Music Group,… more

Sascha Meinrath in New York Times | 'Hopes for Wireless Cities Fade as Internet Providers Pull Out'

Communications — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 07:27:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Hopes for Wireless Cities Fade as Internet Providers Pull Out (New York Times)

. . . “The entire for-profit model is the reason for the collapse in all these projects,” said Sascha Meinrath, technology analyst at the New America Foundation, a nonprofit research organization in Washington.

Mr. Meinrath said that advocates wanted to see American cities catch up with places like Athens, Leipzig and Vienna, where free or inexpensive Wi-Fi already exists in many areas.

He said that true municipal networks, the ones that are owned and operated by municipalities, were far more sustainable because they could take into account benefits that help cities beyond private profit, including property-value increases, education benefits and quality-of-life improvements that come with offering residents free wireless access.

Mr. Meinrath pointed to St. Cloud, Fla., which spent $3 million two years ago to build a free wireless network that is used by more than 70 percent of the households in the city. . .

Michael Calabrese in San Jose Mercury News | Auction Takes 'First Step' to Open-Access Wireless

Communications — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 09:01:00 -0400

New America in the News:

San Jose Mercury News | Auction Takes 'First Step' to Open-Access Wireless

. . . Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at the New America Foundation, said Verizon's ability to subsidize certain handsets gives it enormous market power in determining which devices and applications will ultimately become popular with consumers.

But Calabrese said the auction did help achieve the goals of increased openness and innovation. "We need to extend these consumer protections, but this was an important first step," he said. . .

Letter to Chairman Martin Re: Reauction of D Block

Wireless Future — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:43:00 -0400

Notice of Oral Ex Parte Presentation

Wireless Future — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:22:00 -0400

Comments of Public Knowledge, et al.

Wireless Future — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:04:00 -0400

Municipal Wireless Success Demands Public Involvement, Experts Say

Ron Tang — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:00:00 -0400

Most media have it wrong. Municipal wireless networks across the United States didn't stumble in 2007 -- high-profile cities where deals fell apart, such as Chicago, San Francisco and Houston, were not going to finance, own or operate their respective networks. These weren't municipal networks at all. The business model that faltered in 2007 was the "private corporate franchise" model based on the deal that Philadelphia and EarthLink agreed to in 2006. It was, in fact, the free market that failed last year -- not governments in their traditional role as the builders and maintainers of critical infrastructure.

How we… more