Policy and Law: Federal

The author discusses the evolution of the EDUCAUSE Policy conference and program.

While Washington concentrates on the IT legislative and regulatory issues at hand, the presidential candidates are being queried about their positions and the Democratic and Republican National Committees are focusing on crafting platforms to be adopted during their summer conventions. Policy experts from some of the leading IT policy associations and think tanks will share their insights on how the Democratic and Republican parties and their respective presidential nominees will integrate IT issues into the 2008 presidential campaign.

The United States has fallen behind its international competitors in broadband deployment, price, and openness in part because it has no national broadband policy. In contrast, most other countries adopted proactive programs to address the broadband needs of their citizens at the beginning of the decade that are now proving successful. Several U.S. states are now developing their own broadband plans because of the void at the national level. This session will propose an action plan for the nation based on the lessons learned from Europe, Asia, and some U.S. states and discuss what it will take to get such a plan through Congress.

There has been much improvement in securing cyberspace in the last five years, but much still needs to be done. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has established a Commission on Cyber Security for the 44th Presidency, the administration that will take office in January 2009. The goal of the commission is to identify a strategy and set of recommendations for the next administration to move ahead in securing cyberspace. This session will provide a status report on the commission's work to date. It will also provide an opportunity to offer input regarding progress that has been made in the higher education sector, remaining challenges and opportunities, and the role of the federal government to help improve cybersecurity at colleges and universities.

This session will feature some real-world training about how lobbying works and the keys to effective advocacy. In addition, lobbying meetings (both good and bad) will be role-played to give attendees a feel for the sorts of issues that come up and how best to advance the cause. This session seeks to aid IT professionals in understanding how their federal relations officers work and the best ways CIOs can assist in making that advocacy successful.

Peer-to-peer file sharing remains a major headache for campus IT administrators, as the RIAA and MPAA aggressively explore the boundaries of litigation and legislation. This session will feature two panels of experts to discuss where we stand. The first panel will review the best current thinking on campus policy and technology options for coping with P2P issues: How to deal with DMCA notices, prelitigation letters, and John Doe lawsuits, and whether blocking and filtering technologies have matured to the point where they can help. The second panel will look at the current status of federal P2P legislation and also describe recent entertainment industry initiatives to enact such legislation at the state level.