David Isenberg: F2C - Freedom to Connect Conference

David Isenberg, Berkman Fellow, has put together and will host the F2C: Freedom to Connect Conference in Washington, DC from April 3-4.  The conference will focus on issues relevant to network neutrality.  If you would like to participate, conference registration is available here: http://pulver.com/f2c, as are conference details. If you found out about this conference from the Berkman website, just chose "priority code BERKMAN" when registering and get $400 off the registration price.  Offer expires March 15!

Distinguished Speakers at F2C: Freedom to Connect include: Representative Rick Boucher (D-VA); FCC Commissioner Michael Copps;  Level3 Founder & CEO James Q. Crowe;  Former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt; Former FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell; Google Business Development Leader Chris Sacca. More about the conference from David:

"I decided to organize F2C: Freedom to Connect last year because the discussion of Internet access was framed in network- centric and market oriented terms, as a a privilege, subject to private commercial arrangements and the inexorable trend towards a winner-take-all marketplace..  I wanted to frame Internet  in a more user-oriented, citizen-oriented way, as a fundamental right, an extension of Constitutional Freedoms like Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press.

Network Neutrality is one of the policy issues we will discuss at F2C: Freedom to Connect.  I see it as just one small, complex, tactical piece of the Internet Freedom picture in my view, much as the Koyoto Treaty is to a sustainable planetary strategy for pollution and energy use.  Specifically, even though Network Neutrality is a great idea, a lightweight, easily enforceable, Network Neutrality rule is not easy to write. Internet Freedom includes a much wider range of issues -- like vibrant competition, multi-modal connectivity, new technology, spectrum re-regulation, the whole idea of common carriage and the role of government in infrastructure."