The Digital Broadband Migration: Rewriting The Telecom Act

February 13-14, 2005

Co-sponsored by the Association of Denver Telecommunications Professionals, the Federal Communications Bar Association, the Colorado Bar Association Telecommunications Section, and the University of Colorado Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program

The transformation of telecommunications from an analog, narrowband network optimized for voice to a digital, broadband network optimized for data traffic has created a myriad of challenges for businesses, policymakers, and academics alike. In enacting the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress instituted a regulatory model based on the traditional technology used to deliver voice telephony-and largely did not grapple with the implications of the Internet. This failure, along with the challenges of reforming the legacy model of spectrum policy and "re-missioning" the Federal Communications Commission, have led many to suggest that it is time to re-write the Telecom Act.

This conference will examine the issues left largely unaddressed by the Telecom Act: how to grapple with the advent of broadband and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP); how to reform spectrum policy; and how (and whether) the FCC can re-adjust its institutional mission. With a thoughtful array of leaders from academic, industry, and governmental circles, we believe that this conference will continue the Silicon Flatirons' tradition of encouraging "bolder thinking" in Boulder. Like its predecessors, the proceedings from this conference will be published in the Journal on Telecommunications and High Technology Law.

Welcome
Phil Weiser Executive Director Silicon Flatirons Professor University of Colorado Law School
Overview Speakers
Vint Cerf Vice President Chief Interent Evangelist Google Lawrence Lessig Professor of Law Stanford University
Overview Panel
Vint Cerf Vice President Chief Interent Evangelist Google Dale Hatfield Executive Director, Silicon Flatirons Center Adjunct Professor, University of Colorado Former Chief Engineer, Federal Communications Commission Lawrence Lessig Professor of Law Stanford University Phil Weiser Executive Director Silicon Flatirons Professor University of Colorado Law School
The Implications of Broadband and VoIP
Bill Hunt Vice President, Public Policy Level 3 Communications Scott Marcus Senior Advisor for Internet Technology FCC David Reed Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer Cablelabs Peter Rohrbach Partner Hogan & Hartson Douglas Sicker Associate Professor of Computer Science Director, ITP Laboratory Center for Science and Technology Policy Research Computer and Communications Security Center Kevin Werbach Assistant Professor of Legal Studies The Wharton School Timothy Wu Professor of Law Columbia University
Spectrum Policy
Gerald Faulhaber Professor Wharton School of Business Former Chief Economist FCC Ellen Goodman Professor of Law Rutgers University-Camden Preston Padden Silicon Flatirons Senior Fellow University of Colorado Robert Pepper Senior Director Cisco Systems Jim Speta Professor of Law Northwestern University Mark Williams Partner Sherman & Howard, LLC Stephen Williams Senior Judge U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit
Introduction of Keynote Speaker
Elizabeth Hoffman Former President University of Colorado
Keynote Address
Richard Notebaert Chief Executive Officer Qwest Communications, Inc.
Reforming the FCC and Its Mission
Mark Cooper Silicon Flatirons Senior Adjunct Fellow University of Colorado Director of Research Consumer Federation of America Norton Cutler Counsel Perkins Coie Raymond Gifford Partner Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP Silicon Flatirons Senior Adjunct Fellow University of Colorado Former Chairman, Colorado Public Utilities Commission Alfred Kahn Special Consultant National Economic Research Associates, Inc. (NERA) Robert Julius Thorne Professor of Political Economy, Emeritus Cornell University Jon Nuechterlein Partner WilmerHale Bryan Tramont Silicon Flatirons Senior Adjunct Fellow University of Colorado Partner Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP Molly Van Houweling Assistant Professor Boalt Hall UC Berkeley
The Digital Broadband Migration: The View from Colorado
LeRoy Williams Secretary of Innovation and Technogy State of Colorado
The Digital Broadband Migration: Toward a New Telecom Act
Michael Powell Former Chairman Federal Communications Commission Senior Advisor Providence Equity

Conference Videos

Download videos of select prior conferences here.

Videos of select prior Silicon Flatirons conferences can also be ordered on DVD, VHS, or CD by contacting videos@silicon-flatirons.org

Conference Papers and Speech Texts

Select papers from our conferences are published in the Journal on Telecommunications and High Technology Law. To subscribe, contact the journal at jthtl@colorado.edu.

Presenter Slides

Beyond the Layered Model
J. Scott Marcus

Critique of Layered Regulatory Model
David Reed

The TV Analog Spectrum
Preston R. Padden

The Question of Spectrum
Gerald R. Faulhaber

Breaking the Ice
Kevin Werbach