Silicon Flatirons

A Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado

New Models of Governance Project

Toward Policy 3.0

The revolution launched by the "digital broadband migration" is no longer a matter of debate--the transformation of global communications is evident all around us. As a consequence, we can no longer view the world through the legacy silos that are now crumbling. Video programming, for example, is increasingly experienced through "on demand" platforms and is moving away from the traditional concept of "appointment viewing." Moreover, viewers watch TV over not only their traditional television sets, but using their computer screens and, increasingly, mobile devices as well. The technology behind this transformation is the vast improvements in broadband connectivity, storage capabilities, processing power, and explosion of wireless technology. This set of technological changes is creating significant opportunities for entrepreneurs, but also are placing demands on users to keep pace

Public policy is also struggling to keep up with a changing technological environment. Created to govern traditional technology silos (TV, landline phone, mobile phone, etc), our legacy public policy strategies are ill-equipped to address many of today's challenges. Given the government's obligation to ensure that vital social needs are met, policymakers need to take a fresh look at how well the existing institutions and methods of public policy are working in today's dynamic technological environment.

To assist policymakers think through the challenges in reforming our legacy institutions, the Silicon Flatirons Center is launching a dialogue with academia, public interest groups, business and policymakers to define the principles, organization and practices that should define the policy response to today's dynamic technological environment.

The "Project on New Models of Governance: Toward Policy 3.0" extends the Center's track record of creating a forum where industry, academia and government meet to tackle complex issues of information policy. In particular, it seeks to develop and extend the ambition of our annual policy conference focused on the Digital Broadband Migration. Over the years, this conference and related ones have explored workings of the Federal Communications Commission, the challenges of defining property rights in information (i.e., those related to software, digital works, and radio spectrum), and emerging policy strategies around how best to protect "Internet freedom."

The concept of "Policy 3.0" highlights that we are in the third phase of policy with respect to the Internet's development. In the first phase, from the initial design of ARPANET to the privatization of NSFNET in April 1995, the Internet was, in effect, a creature of the government itself. The second phase viewed the Internet as a nascent technology, with a bias that it should be allowed to develop free from day-to-day governmental regulation. Today, as we note in the first report of this project (Exploring Self-Regulatory Strategies for Network Management), "the era of non-regulation of the Internet is over," begging the question of what comes next. In light of this question, we aim to stimulate thought, discussion, and conclusions that will help guide the development of policy strategies that can address effectively a dynamic technological environment.

Framework

Today's dynamic technological environment creates a long list of governance challenges. Meeting such challenges, we recognize, will require sustained and long-term intellectual engagement. To become the project of evaluating new models of governance, we will thus focus on the set of issues relate to how policymakers can best promote economic vitality. In particular, this focus will involve an examination of the intersecting cluster of issues that includes spurring innovation and economic growth, defining and protecting property rights, managing public goods, and creating and enforcing competition policy.

Our initial examination of regulatory policy geared to support economic vitality will address the appropriate role for self-regulation and the challenges of defining and enforcing property rights in information. In both cases, we will evaluate what strategies can provide a valuable degree of certainty as well as sufficient flexibility to handle the rapidly changing technological conditions. With respect to the potential role of self-regulation, our first report, Exploring Self-Regulatory Strategies for Network Management, sets out a comprehensive analysis of how self-regulation in the context of network management could operate effectively. By so doing, we also aim to explain the potential for self-regulatory strategies more broadly. With respect to property rights, we have already lined up a top flight conference on software patents and will continue to develop our work in the area of defining rights to the use the radio spectrum.

Over the next year, we will develop principled governance solutions that enable governments to protect the public while allowing industry and civil society to innovate to the benefit of their stakeholders and society at large. Specifically, we will ask:

1. What are the drivers of technological change and innovation in 21st century? What principles of action (or inaction) will allow government and society best to encourage economic vitality?
2. When should governments intervene, and when not? For what purposes might intervention be justified?
3. How best can "intervention" be "organized" in governmental institutions? If it doesn't intervene, how should government best ensure that public-policy goals are achieved? What non-governmental mechanisms exist to provide leadership and, where necessary, enforcement of appropriate norms?

Program

The Project will use a variety of formats that have proven their value at Silicon Flatirons:

• Conferences: Panel sessions at open meetings to air discussion and stimulate debate
• Workshops: Small invitation-only ad hoc meetings
• Roundtables: Short invitation-only meetings where a small group can delve into the details of a policy topic
• Summits: Small, invitation-only meetings stretching over 1-2 days to work through a complex issue, map out areas of agreement and disagreement, and ideally frame consensus solutions

The planned events for 2008/2009 include:

• June 9-10, 2008: Exploring Self Regulatory Strategies for Network Management (Boulder). A Flatirons Summit on Information Policy.
• September 25, 2008: Innovation Economics for the Next Administration (DC). A joint ITIF/Silicon Flatirons event on a regulatory agenda for the new administration.
• February 8 or 9, 2009: The Evolution of Regulatory Institutions for an Internet Age Emerging Regulatory Institutions (Boulder). A panel at the annual Digital Broadband Migration Conference.
• March 19, 2009: Evaluating Software Patents

In addition to the events already planned, we envision that we will investigate other topics within this framework during 2009, including (1) strategies for FCC reform; (2) policy directions for supporting the development of Smart Grid technology; (3) defining spectrum property rights; and (4) principles for Internet governance.