Presented at Policy Conferences

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.

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.

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.

U.S. universities have come to see their universes in global terms, most visibly in brand-new overseas campuses. But just as important are joint teaching and research projects that dramatically intensify the flow of data to points halfway around the world. Historically, such data flows have required the physical transportation of people or storage media from place to place. Dramatic improvements in networking technology, however, are changing academic leaders' perceptions of the kinds of collaborations that are possible. The most ambitious forms of network cooperation test the capabilities of the global cyberinfrastructure, with bits crossing campus, regional, national, and international networks. Each of the four tiers is a vital link. Each involves a different set of actors, challenging us to develop new policies and governance structures that respond to the concerns of each level, as well as a truly global perspective that is not yet effectively captured. Our national policy community must step into this void, helping demonstrate the range of possibilities and the choices we face, while respecting and reflecting that people in other countries will likely perceive matters differently from us.

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.

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.

The Congressional Internet Caucus is a bipartisan group of over 170 members of the House and Senate working to educate their colleagues about the promise and potential of the Internet. EDUCAUSE is a member of the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee, which includes a diverse group of public interest, nonprofit, and industry groups working to educate Congress and the public about important Internet-related policy issues. This session will highlight the priority IT policy issues before the 110th Congress according to the cochairs of the Internet Caucus and provide an overview of the Advisory Committee’s programs and activities.

The Federal Trade Commission deals with issues that touch the economic lives of most Americans. The current portfolio includes protecting consumers in the areas of data security and privacy, identity theft, Social Security number misuse, identity management, spam, maintaining the National Do Not Call Registry, and other IT issues of interest to colleges and universities. The FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, although a regulator of businesses, is also an educator: it seeks to educate consumers and provide businesses and other organizations with the information they need to comply with the rules of the road and to provide consumers with the necessary tools to engage in commerce intelligently. This session will highlight information policy issues the FTC is addressing and educational resources institutions of higher education can leverage to improve student, faculty, and staff awareness of data security and privacy risks.

The advance of identification technology—biometrics, identity cards, surveillance, databases, dossiers—threatens privacy, civil liberties, and related human interests. In the wake of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 demands for identification in the name of security have increased. A national identification card, created by Congress in the REAL ID Act, is an example of a poor way to secure the country or its citizens. Instead of a uniform, government-controlled identification system, we need a competitive, responsive identification and credentialing industry that meets the mix of consumer demands for privacy, security, anonymity, and accountability. This session will explore the policy issues associated with identity and the implications for colleges and universities.

The digital convergence of telecommunications, media, and technology is changing the landscape for policy makers and the industries that lobby them, as well as the users of computers, telephones, entertainment and knowledge. The Center for Public Integrity's Well Connected project tracks each of the major telecom, broadcast, cable, news, entertainment, wireless, and computer companies. Americans can access this free database to see who owns the media and communications networks in their city by typing in their ZIP code. The project is also responsible for a freedom of information lawsuit to obtain data about local broadband deployment from the FCC. This session will address the need for the educational users of computing and communication to be attuned to the lobbying fault lines that affect all of these sectors, with a particular focus on recent developments in telecommunications and intellectual property.

What's past is prologue. As we look ahead to the policy questions facing the Internet today and tomorrow, it's useful to recall what we've seen over the past 12 months, and that's what we'll do during this session.

In an effort to move the net neutrality debate from rhetoric to realistic compromise, a group of telecommunications attorneys and Internet technologists from industry and the nonprofit sector have spent the past six months defining and agreeing upon the many questions surrounding this complex topic. Led by John Windhausen and Rick Whitt, the group has created a document that describes what a net neutrality regime might look like, as well as how it could be realized and enforced. This session will present the paper, offer an academic review of it, and give the audience an opportunity to ask the primary authors questions.

Most Americans rely on DSL and cable modem for their broadband connection, but are these the only options? Other technologies once derided as impractical are beginning to show promise. Can alternative broadband technologies help facilitate the oft-repeated vision of federal policymakers to provide "affordable, ubiquitous broadband for all Americans, regardless of where they live"? Industry experts and entrepreneurs seeking to shake up the current broadband marketplace will discuss the practical progress of these alternatives to date and whether adjustments in federal IT policy regulations are needed to enable their chances for success.

American colleges and universities have a love/hate relationship with patents: technology transfer brings in millions of dollars, establishes reputations, and enhances America's competitive status in the world, yet an expanding number of dubious patents are leading to higher costs, decreased market selection, and threats of litigation across many departments on campus. In this session, we'll review current legislative proposals for patent reform and spotlight some of the latest problem patents in the news.

Earlier this year, in what Casey Green called its "spring offensive," the Recording Industry Association of America stepped up its program of bringing infringement claims against thousands of on- and off-campus users of peer-to-peer file-sharing systems. At the same time, the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property held a "Piracy on University Networks" hearing, where one representative warned "the hammer is coming." Meanwhile, forward-looking companies were quietly exploring new business models for distributing entertainment in digital form. Whether based on advertising and ISP licenses, these models take as a given the ubiquity of easy transmission and storage of digital entertainment, both to and among consumers. In this session, we'll explore how the old models are grudgingly giving way to the new, and the implications of this transition for colleges and universities.