Who’s Speaking at Stanford?
April 16th, 2008 by jstearnsWith just over 24 hours left before the Stanford hearing on the future of the Internet, the Federal Communications Commission has finally announced the full agenda and list of featured speakers for tomorrow’s big event. Better late than never.
It’s an impressive array of speakers, including representatives from the music and film industry, consumer advocates, scholars and the requisite few corporate cheerleaders — but nobody from Comcast, which apparently refused to participate.
If you can’t make it to Palo Alto tomorrow, you can listen to the hearing here: http://www.fcc.gov/realaudio/
VON TV will have the video: http://www.vontv.net/events/080417/ (but act fast, only 150 seats are available)
We were pleased to see a few long-time SavetheInternet.com members and close allies on the panels for tomorrow’s hearing. The first panel, focused on consumer rights on the Internet, includes:
- Lawrence Lessig, C. Wendell and Edith M. Carlsmith Professor of Law, Stanford Law School
- Michele Combs, Christian Coalition of America
- Jean Prewitt, President and Chief Executive Officer, Independent Film & Television Alliance
- Robb Topolski, Software Quality Engineer — and the guy who first caught Comcast’s blocking
The second panel of the day features another great list of speakers who will be discussing the role of the open Internet in consumer choice and technological innovation. A few of the speakers during this panel include:
- Barbara van Schewick, Assistant Professor of Law, Stanford Law School
- Jason Devitt, Chief Executive Officer, SkyDeck
- Harold Feld, Senior Vice President, Media Access Project
- Ben Scott, Policy Director, Free Press
For the full agenda and line-up of speakers see the FCC’s press release.
After the two panels, the FCC is going to do something it neglected to do in Boston – offer two hours for the public to weigh in on this debate. It will be refreshing to hear from the people who are most impacted by the decisions the FCC will make in this case. More than 1.5 million people have spoken up for Net Neutrality and an open Internet at SavetheInternet.com, so we look forward to hearing the individual voices and stories of local California citizens. The local Community Media Center will be on hand to videotape people’s testimony, too.
Fore more information on the FCC hearing, travel tips, and background info visit: www.savetheinternet.com/=stanford.
