The Broadband Act of 2011:
Designing A Communications Act for the 21st Century

New America Foundation, Washington, DC
September 28-30, 2010

The passage of the National Broadband Plan in March 2010; the heated debate over Title II reclassification; the ongoing deliberations regarding the NPRM on Network Neutrality; the Comcast-NBCU merger proceedings; and the April 2010 Appeals Court decision in Comcast v. FCC, all point to the need for a comprehensive overhaul of the Communications Act. The last time such a wide-ranging initiative took place was in 1996. That effort led to a blueprint for competition in local telephony markets, universal service reform, and deregulation of media ownership rules, all of which have had an effect on the structure of the media and telecommunications industries today. But it barely addressed the broadband Internet. Now, 15 years later, it is clear that a new legal framework is required to confront the challenges created by a national network that is broadband based.

The Institute for Information Policy at Penn State and the Open Technology Initiative at the New America Foundation are pleased to announce this Call for Paper Proposals (Abstracts) discussing the rationale, needed amendments and steps to be taken in order to bring the Communications Act of 1934 up to date for the broadband era. The selected papers will be presented and discussed during a three-day by-invitation experts workshop designed to bring together up to a dozen American and international experts and to be held at the New America Foundation in Washington, DC, September 28-30, 2010 with the goal of engaging the policy and law making community in a dialogue, and then publishing the papers in an expedited manner.

Suggested paper topics may include, but are not limited to:

• New legal theories for the regulation of broadband
• Outlining and/or drafting a new section of the Communication Act
• The need for network neutrality legislation

Penn State, Michigan State and Rutgers Universities and the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, in cooperation with the New America Foundation, held an Experts Workshop, “Beyond Broadband Access: Data-Based Information Policy for a New Administration” at the Foundation’s new headquarters in Washington, D.C., September 22-24, 2009.

A three day event, Beyond Broadband Access features 10 panels with topics including:

* Theories, models, and measurement
* Data collection
* Spectrum and Wireless
* Broadband Policy
* Regulation

[Workshop Program]
[Workshop Speakers Bios]