Panel Abstract: Meet the Regulators

  • Network Reliability: P.J. Aduskevicz, ATT/FCC Network Reliability & Interoperability Council
  • Wireless Development: Dale Hatfield, Chief, Network Technologies Division, FCC Office of Engineering and Technology
  • Broadband Deployment: Rebecca Dorch, FCC Office of Engineering and Technology
  • Cable Access: Robert Cannon, Senior Counsel for Internet Issues, FCC Office of Plans and Policy (Moderator)
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    For more than 30 years, the FCC has pursued a policy of unregulation with regards to data processing and computer networks. Nevertheless, the decisions of the Federal Communications Commission can have dramatic effects on the future of the Internet. This panel looks at some of the most noteworthy issues before the FCC that affect Internet development.

    The Network Reliability and Interoperability Council, an industry group which has advised the FCC on telecommunications reliability, has, for the first time, expanded its vision to include a one year voluntary trial monitoring the reliability of non-traditional networks such as the Internet. Mobile devices such as wireless palms and browsers on cell phones have created pressure for making new wireless spectrum available for technological advances. Increased Internet usage has increased demand for bandwidth and created a new broadband market to the residence; the FCC's recent Section 706 Report examined whether advanced broadband services are being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely manner. Finally, an intense controversy has been brewing concerning whether cable services should have an obligation to open facilities to some form of non-discriminatory access by unaffiliated ISPs; the FCC has recently initiated an inquiry to look at the issue of "open access."

    Aduskevicz Powerpoint presentation | HTML presentation
    Cannon Powerpoint presentation | HTML presentation

    About the Presenter
    Robert Cannon is Senior Counsel for Internet Issues in the Office of Plans and Policy of the Federal Communications Commission. Prior to this position, he was Deputy Director of the FCC's Y2K Task Force. He is also the Founder of the Washington Internet Project, a pro-bono project dedicated to promoting awareness of and participation in federal regulatory developments that affect the Internet <www.cybertelecom.org>.

    Mr. Cannon moderates the Cybertelecom-l listserv and edits the e-newsletter CybertelecomNews. His article on the Communications Decency Act was published in the Federal Communications Law Journal, cited before the Supreme Court in Reno v. ACLU and republished in an anthology on the First Amendment. He is a Legal Columnist for Boardwatch Magazine and has spoken at ISPCON, INET, APRICOT, ISPF, Computers, Freedom and Privacy, and Internet World. He was the creator and co-chair of the Federal Communication Bar Association's Online Communications Committee. In 1993, he completed a judicial clerkship with Judge Steffen Graae in D.C. Superior Court. He can be reached at <cannon@world.oberlin.edu.>

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