MediaBerkman

Today’s Internet is an engine of innovation, creativity, free speech, and democratic participation. Applications like email, the web, and voice over IP have changed the way we communicate. Companies like Amazon, Google, and eBay point towards new ways of doing business that are fast becoming integral to people’s daily lives.

The combined effect has undermined established pre-Internet businesses from retail stores to publishers to telephone companies. These interests have taken their case to the Federal Communications Commission, the courts, and now to the U.S Congress.

In this edition of AudioBerkman, we’ll hear four voices from Freedom to Connect discuss the issue of “Net Neutrality” and explain the forces that are now colliding for the future of the Internet.

The hour consists of excerpts from four talks given at Freedom to Connect in Washington, D.C. on April 3 & 4, 2006:

Congressman Rick Boucher (D-VA)
Chris Sacca (Google)
Former FCC Chairman Michael Powell
Former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt

Download the MP3 (time: 54:59)

Produced for the Public Radio Exchange by David Isenberg and Colin Rhinesmith. Music by Joe Craven.

David Isenberg, Berkman Fellow and co-organizer of this year’s F2C: Freedom to Connect conference in Washington, D.C. discusses the issue of Network Neutrality and challenges facing the Internet by the largest telephone companies, the FCC, and Congress.

Download the MP3 (time: 1:13:17)

Download the Powerpoint.

David Isenberg, new Berkman Fellow and author of the seminal paper “The Rise of the Stupid Network,” talks about why the best network is the one that has the least intelligence in it, as well as about the current state of affairs of the telecommunications industry. This is the first session of the new year of “Web of Ideas” discussions led by Berkman Fellow David Weinberger.

Download the MP3 (time: 49:10)