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Internet service providers like Comcast and AT&T want to speed up voice and video applications while downgrading others. And while that might not seem as dramatic as outright blocking or slowing down their competitors’ applications, prioritization can still cause problems for Internet users.

Increasingly, access to broadband is being seen as a civil right. Is the promise of broadband technology truly available to all? What are the best ways to "move the needle" in this country on broadband adoption? Globally, what lessons have and can be learned from other nations' experiences in ameliorating the digital divide?

Panelists:

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The Media Issues working group will present a formal best practices recommendation. This will be the third meeting of the full Diversity Committee under its renewed charter and new membership.

The goal of the Broadband Workshop on Future Fiber Architectures and Local Deployment Choices is to understand post-100-megabit/s fiber and partial-fiber solutions for the middle mile, public institutions, small to medium enterprises and homes.

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On November 19, 2009, Native Public Media and the New America Foundation's Open Technology Initiative will release New Media, Technology and Internet Use in Indian Country: Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis, one of the most extensive studies of on the ground technology use, access, and adoption in Native American lands. Demonstrating the great need to include Native Americans in the discourse around the National Broadband Plan.

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In a small, but growing number of nations the mobile phone has evolved from a simple personal communications device to become both a platform for commerce and an indispensable part of a "lifestyle infrastructure" that enhances personal productivity, manages financial transactions, and makes life far more convenient and efficient. Indeed, around the world, consumers can use mobile phones as electronic wallets to pay for public transit, to check in at airline gates, and to make purchases from merchants, kiosks, and vendors. But not in the United States, which lags behind world leaders in leveraging the mobile phone as a platform to effect commercial transactions. The result is lagging productivity and reduced convenience for America and Americans.

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The Alliance for Digital Equality will convene a mix of policymakers, thought leaders and the media for a Minority Broadband Summit in Washington, DC highlighting the role of wireline and wireless broadband access and adoption in addressing some of the most critical issues facing underserved communities in our country today, such as access to a quality and affordable education, disparities in heal

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The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 requires the FCC to submit a national broadband plan that seeks to “ensure that all people of the United States have access to broadband capability.” Specifically, the Commission is required to establish “a plan for use of broadband infrastructure and services in advancing … community development … worker training, private sector investment, entrepreneurial activity, job creation and economic growth…” What are the lessons from local and state government officials toward meeting these specific national purposes? What is the potential role of local officials representing un-served or under-served communities in the national broadband plan?

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Hearing On The “Universal Service Reform Act Of 2009." House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher (D-Va.) is circulating a draft of a bill that would extend the Universal Service Fund to broadband and set a minimum speed of service to qualify for the subsidy.

The New York City Council Committee on Technology in Government will hold a public hearing regarding the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) six principles of Net Neutrality. This hearing seeks to gain insight into these principles, which the FCC seeks to codify.

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The Internet is the writers’ inkwell. When consolidated publishing houses don’t consider our book pitches; when the top magazines present writers’ guidelines as a cruel joke; when Hollywood studios mop their floors with screenplays; and when news agencies operate on a skeleton crew of reporters, we can turn to the Internet.

In the fight for Net Neutrality, we can’t get lost in the nuance. Internet Service Providers would have us believe that certain types of network prioritization are innocuous. In truth, there’s a litany of hidden harms in any attempt to shape Internet traffic.