Save the Date! The Free State Foundation will hold its Eleventh Annual Telecom Policy Conference on Tuesday, March 26, 2019, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. This annual conference is widely acknowledged to be one of the nation's premier communications law and policy events. As in previous years, a truly outstanding lineup of senior officials and prominent experts from the FCC, other government agencies, industry, academia, and think tanks will discuss and debate the most important communications and Internet policy issues of the day.
Free State Foundation President Randolph May will participate on a panel at the NARUC Annual Meeting on Sunday, November 11, 2018 in Orlando, Florida. The panel, "The VoIP "State" - What's Happening? What's Next?" will discuss the pending Minnesota Commission petition for rehearing en banc of a recent 8th Circuit 2-1 decision preempting state oversight as well as the Vermont Commission remand resulting from the 2013 Vermont Supreme Court decision that upheld a Vermont Public Utility Commission determination that “fixed” VoIP service is subject to PUC authority.
The Federalist Society will host a Teleforum on October 16, 2018, at 1:00 p.m. on the Free State Foundation’s new book, A Reader on Net Neutrality and Restoring Internet Freedom. Participants include Randolph May, President of the Free State Foundation; Seth Cooper, FSF Senior Fellow; Daniel Lyons, Associate Professor at Boston College Law School and a member of FSF's Board of Academic Advisors; and Blair Levin, Nonresident Senior Fellow with Brookings Institution. The Reader provides a wealth of information and key insights into the long-running debate surrounding “net neutrality” regulation.
Just Published! The Free State Foundation has just published its latest book, A Reader on Net Neutrality and Restoring Internet Freedom. In the context of offering a convincing defense of the adoption of the FCC’s December 2017 Restoring Internet Freedom Order, this volume provides a wealth of information and key insights into the long-running debate surrounding “net neutrality” regulation. The selected writings in this Reader, most of which were previously published as Perspectives from FSF Scholars or FSF blogs, explain why, in our view, the FCC’s pro-consumer, pro-investment, and pro-innovation approach to regulation of Internet service providers adopted in the Restoring Internet Freedom Order should be preserved. A Reader on Net Neutrality and Restoring Internet Freedom is available from Amazon here in paperback for $9.95 or for your Kindle here for $2.99. And it is available here from Apple and other booksellers in various e-book formats for $2.99 or less.
On June 13, 2018, FSF's President Randolph May and Senior Fellow Theodore Bolema reacted to Comcast’s announcement regarding the Fox acquisition. Read the full Media Advisory here.
The Free State Foundation will hold a lunch seminar on June 28, 2018, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. The event will feature Introductory Remarks by Federal Communications Commissioner Michael O’Rielly – “An Update on FCC Process Reform Efforts: Possible Next Steps” – followed by a panel discussion that addresses the latest municipal broadband developments with special attention to net neutrality and First Amendment considerations. The panelists will include Enrique Armijo, Associate Professor of Law at Elon University School of Law and a Member of the Free State Foundation Board of Academic Advisors; Theodore Bolema, Free State Foundation Senior Fellow; and Chris Lewis, Vice President of Public Knowledge. Alden Abbott, the Federal Trade Commission's new General Counsel, will deliver Closing Remarks – “Protecting Consumers and Competition at the New FTC.” An event flyer is here. To register, click here.
The Free State Foundation will hold its Tenth Annual Telecom Policy Conference on Tuesday, March 27, 2018, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will deliver the Opening Keynote address. FCC Commissioners Michael O’Rielly and Brendan Carr will join FSF President Randolph May in the traditional lunchtime conversation. And Neomi Rao, Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, and David Redl, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, will both deliver a Keynote address. Other speakers include: James Assey, Executive Vice President, NCTA; Jeff Campbell, Vice President, The Americas of Global Government Affairs, Cisco Systems, Inc.; Michelle Connolly, Professor, Duke University, and Member of FSF's Board of Academic Advisors; David Cohen, Senior Executive Vice President, Comcast Corporation; Kathleen Grillo, Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Public Policy and Government Affairs, Verizon Communications Inc.; John Jones, Senior Vice President of Public Policy & Government Relations, CenturyLink; Chris Lewis, Vice President, Public Knowledge; Daniel Lyons, Professor, Boston College Law School, and Member of FSF's Board of Academic Advisors; Tom Power, Senior Vice President & General Counsel, CTIA; Nicol Turner-Lee, Fellow, Governance Studies, Center for Technology Innovation, Brookings; and Christopher Yoo, Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Member of FSF's Board of Academic Advisors. A conference agenda is here and an event flyer is here. Register here!
Free State Foundation President Randolph J. May and Research Fellow Michael J. Horney submitted written testimony and Mr. Horney testified at a March 2, 2018, Hearing on SB 287, “State Funds - Procurement of Services From Internet Service Providers – Restriction,” before the Committee on Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs, Maryland General Assembly. The testimony opposes SB 287 on legal and policy grounds.
Free State Foundation President Randolph May will speak on Hands Off My Internet: A Discussion on Net-Neutrality at the University of Baltimore School of Law, Baltimore, MD, on February 14, 2018, at an event hosted by the Baltimore Student Chapter of The Federalist Society.
Free State Foundation President Randolph May will be a panelist at a Federal Communications Bar Association event on The State of VoIP: Perspectives on State Jurisdiction Regarding Voice over Internet Protocol. The CLE is February 13, 2018, at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, DC.
Free State Foundation President Randolph May will speak on The Future of Net Neutrality at the Duke University School of Law, Durham, NC, on January 29, 2018, at an event hosted by the Duke Student Chapter of The Federalist Society.