Listics

Among the dozens of professional conference opportunities I’ll be missing this spring, Freedom to Connect stands out.  I’m an introvert so it takes a lot of energy for me to connect with people.  This conference brings together a number of people whom I’ve met and whom I’d like to know better with a number of people I haven’t met but would like the opportunity to meet and hear real-time.  I wouldn’t miss this for anything but the family obligation that has me elsewhere, NOT in Washington DC on March 30 and 31.

The fee is ridiculously low:  $250 for a full two day conference ($350 special procrastinators rate after March 1).  If you have an interest in Internet infrastructure and the policy issues that will channel our opportunities for the next decade or so, then you should attend.  David Isenberg writes,

The future of telecommunications starts now; there’s a new U.S. Telecom Act in the works, there’s unbundling in Europe, fast fiber in Asia, wireless across Africa and networks a-building in cities and villages around the world. Lead the discussion. Shape the debate. Assert your Freedom to Connect.

The need to communicate is primary, like the need to breathe, eat, sleep, reproduce, socialize and learn. Better connections make for better communication. Better connections drive economic growth through better access to suppliers, customers and ideas. Better connections provide for development and testing of ideas in science and the arts. Better connections improve the quality of everyday life. Better connections build stronger democracies. Strong democracies build strong networks.

Freedom to Connect belongs with Freedom of Speech, Press, Religion and Assembly. Each of these freedoms is related to the others and depends on the others, but stands distinct. Freedom to Connect, too, depends on the other four but carries its own meaning. Unlike the others, it does not yet have a body of law and practice surrounding it. There is no Digital Bill of Rights. Freedom to Connect is the place to start.

Too often the discussion of telecommunications policy turns on phrases like "overregulation," and "investment incentives." These are critical issues, to be sure, but like the term "last mile," such phrases frame the issues in network-centric terms. As more and more intelligence migrates to the edge of the network, users of the network need to be part of the policy debate. Let’s put the user back into the picture. Freedom to Connect provides the frame.

There are forty or so speakers, discussants, debaters, and presenters on the program.  Included are at least a dozen top flight professionals who blog… people like Weinberger, AKMA, Crawford, Jarvis, MacKinnon, Malik, Michalski, Werbach, Dewayne Hendricks, Dan Gillmor, and of course David Isenberg.  The registrant list is filling out into a who’s who of smart people informed about stupid networks.  Martin Geddes, Jon Lebkowsky, Judith Meskill and Bob Frankston are on the list as of today.

Vint Cerf and David Weinberger are keynoters.  Charlie Firestone from the Aspen Institute will be there moderating a debate.  Scott Heiferman, the Meetup guy, will be there to represent our interests vis à vis Freedom of Assembly.

I wish I could be there too.