Web Seminars Contributed by EDUCAUSE and Telecommunications Policy

A worldwide tussle over Internet access policy is playing out right now, and many countries are closely watching what the United States does. This talk will provide a brief overview of the U.S. regulatory structure for high-speed Internet access.

At a recent Senate hearing, Vint Cerf said that "nothing less than the future of the Internet is at stake" in the government's decisions about network neutrality. Meanwhile, the managers of the country's mega-ISPs assert that they can't continue investing billions of dollars in high-speed Internet infrastructure without the freedom to explore multitiered services and other nonuniform business models. During this presentation, we'll discuss the pros and cons of network neutrality with Scott Bradner, a well-known network activist who's been involved in the design and implementation of the Internet from its earliest days.

CALEA, the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, facilitates court-ordered wiretaps by establishing technical standards for interception points on public telephone networks. As interpreted and implemented since 1994, CALEA excluded the Internet and private telecommunication systems. Over the past year, on request of several federal law enforcement agencies, the FCC has developed and announced a reinterpretation of CALEA that covers both the Internet and private networks, including campus networks. Several associations and interest groups have announced plans to challenge this new interpretation of CALEA, on a variety of grounds. In this session, speakers will discuss CALEA and the technological, policy, and financial concerns raised by its reinterpretation.

The Internet has enjoyed years of relative freedom from regulation compared to other communication avenues such as telephone and cable. Is this about to change? Why, and why now? How will the outcome affect higher education, and how are we trying to shape these changes to our best advantage? Attend this presentation for a glimpse inside the D.C. beltway and what is happening in the world of communications law.