Information Commons

As the Internet has evolved -- moving from a relatively small set of networks used by researchers to a worldwide platform used by over a billion people -- its performance has become harder to analyze and understand. Researchers lack access to critical data about the current state of broadband networks, and users can find it difficult or impossible to understand the performance and characteristics of their Internet connections.

Both President-Elect Barack Obama and Congressional leaders have discussed including government support to promote high-speed broadband access as part of the upcoming economic stimulus package. This has prompted a flood of proposals and ideas from advocates of all sides of the broadband debate. Economic stimulus should be timely, temporary and targeted. But who should this stimulus target and how can we spur investments that will create both short-term economic growth and long-term economic prosperity in the 21st century?

Barack Obama has said we need a "Google for government." It's a nice line, but what does it mean? Federal agencies have been online since the mid-'90s. Obama's first crack at a Google-for-government law led to USAspending.gov, a budget tracker that looked like everything else the feds had put up on the Web--until I saw one geek-speak phrase on the home page, so small I almost missed it: API Documentation. To understand its significance, let me tell you how I got subway schedules on… more

COMMENTS OF PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE, FREE PRESS, CONSUMER FEDERATION OF AMERICA, CONSUMERS UNION, EDUCAUSE, MEDIA ACCESS PROJECT, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION, U.S. PIRG, ASSEMBLYMAN RICHARD L. BRODSKY, CREDO MOBILE, INC.

In the late 1980s, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) conducted a series of lotteries to allocate electromagnetic spectrum (popularly known as the “public airwaves”) for mobile telephone service. More than 320,000 lottery tickets were acquired by spectrum speculators, including dentists, lawyers, accountants, and anyone else willing to devote the time and hire the legal talent necessary to fill out the complicated form to acquire a lottery ticket. Many of the lottery tickets were purchased as part of partnerships, whose members… more

Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20554

In the Matter of Skype Communications S.A.R.L.

Petition to Confirm a Consumer’s Right to Use Internet Communications Software and Attach Devices To Wireless Networks, RM-11361

COMMENTS OF THE AD HOC PUBLIC INTEREST SPECTRUM COALITION

EDUCAUSE Free Press Media Access Project New America Foundation Public Knowledge U.S. Public Interest Research Group

SUMMARY

Wireless carriers are hampering innovation and raising costs by… more

The digital age has drastically reshaped the world that we live in—making communication faster, information more accessible, and our knowledge more expansive than ever before. With even more information at our fingertips, it has become increasingly difficult to keep up with the pace of information output. Knowledge is now the principal source of wealth creation and new jobs in the United States. Ensuring that the United States and its populace keep up with the fast pace of knowledge dissemination and… more

Over the past thirty years, by many measures, U.S. student educational performance has not improved. Some measures of educational achievement have actually decreased. This development is coupled with a dramatic decline in the productivity of educational spending: As a nation, we spend more and more to obtain the same level of educational achievement. Other industrialized countries do much better than the U.S. when comparing educational performance and the productivity of educational spending. With respect to educational achievement, the position of… more

Other Speakers Include:

Kevin KahnIntel Fellow; Director, Intel Communications Technology LabKevin Werbach,Supernova Group; Former FCC Counsel for New Technology PolicyAndrew Moss,Director of Technical Policy, Windows, Microsoft CorporationSandra Aistars,Counsel for Intellectual Property, AOL Time WarnerCory DoctorowElectronic Frontier Foundation Anthony Townsend, Co-Founder & Executive Director, NYCwireless.netEd Felten, Princeton UniversityMike Godwin, Senior Technology Counsel, Public KnowledgeGigi B. Sohn, President and Co-Founder, Public Knowledge more