Berkman Center broadband study for FCC available for public comment

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society is pleased to announce that the draft of its independent review for the FCC --
Next Generation Connectivity: A review of broadband Internet transitions and policy from around the world
-- has been posted for public comment at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/index.do?document=293955.

[ Reminder 11/4: Commenting on the Berkman Center's broadband study for the FCC: The comment period for the study closes November 16. ]
[ Added 11/17: Reviewing comments on the Berkman Center's broadband study for the FCC. ]
[ Added 12/7: FCC "Workshop: Review and Discussion of Broadband Deployment Research". ]
[ Added 12/21: Updating the Berkman Center’s broadband study for the FCC. ]

[ Added 2/16: Berkman Center releases final broadband study for the FCC ]

We invite everyone to read the draft and participate in the public comment process; from the FCC's public notice:

  On July 14, the Commission announced in a press release that Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society would conduct an expert review of existing literature and studies about broadband deployment and usage throughout the world to inform the Commission’s development of a National Broadband Plan.
  A draft of the study has now been completed. The Commission is seeking public comment on the study, and has posted the draft for public review at the following Internet address:
http://www.fcc.gov/stage/pdf/Berkman_Center_Broadband_Study_13Oct09.pdf. Specifically, the Commission seeks comment on the following:
1. Does the study accomplish its intended purposes?
2. Does the study provide a complete and objective survey of the subject matter?
3. How accurately and comprehensively does the study summarize the broadband experiences of other countries?
4. How much weight should the Commission give to this study as it develops a National Broadband Plan?
5. Are additional studies needed along the lines of the Berkman study?
6. Please provide any other comments on the Berkman study that you deem relevant.

For the full public notice, with directions on how to comment, see http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/index.do?document=293955.

This report represents the outcome of a substantial and engaged team effort, most extensively by Berkman Center researchers, with many contributions from others elsewhere at Harvard and in other institutions and centers around the world. The team was led by Yochai Benkler, the Jack N. and Lillian R. Berkman Professor for Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School and a faculty co-director of the Berkman Center. The Ford Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation generously supported the Berkman Center's work on this report.

In the coming weeks, Professor Benkler and the Berkman Center team will be reading feedback, incorporating what they can, and submitting a final draft to the FCC.

Reuters and Financial Times have published short stories about the report, and the Harvard Law School Office of Communications spoke with Professor Benkler about the process and highlights from the findings.

Congratulations and thanks to everyone who contributed to this important research.