Announcing F2C: Freedom to Connect 2012! #f2c
F2C: Freedom to Connect will be held on May 21 and 22, 2012 at AFI Silver Theatre. Registration is open, very early bird prices in effect.
[24Jan2012: This Web site is under construction. New speakers and topics are added as they're confirmed. Stay tuned!]
F2C: Freedom to Connect is a conference devoted to preserving and celebrating the essential properties of the Internet. The Internet is a success today because it is stupid, abundant and simple. In other words, its neutrality, its openness to rapidly developing technologies and its layered architecture are the reasons it has succeeded where others (e.g., ISDN, Interactive TV) failed.
The Internet’s issues are under-represented in Washington DC policy circles. F2C: Freedom to Connect is designed to advocate for innovation, for creativity, for expression, for little-d democracy. The Freedom to Connect is about an Internet that supports human freedoms and personal security. These values, held by many of us whose consciousness has been shaped by the Internet, are not common on K Street or Capitol Hill or at the FCC.
F2C: Freedom to Connect is about having access to the Internet as infrastructure. Infratructures belong to — and enrich — the whole society in which they exist. They gain value — in a wide variety of ways, some of which are difficult to anticipate — when more members of society have access to them. F2C: Freedom to Connect especially honors those who build communications infrastructure for the Internet in their own communities, often overcoming resistance from incumbent cable and telephone companies to do so.
The phrase Freedom to Connect is now official US foreign policy, thanks to Secretary of State Clinton’s Remarks on Internet Freedom in 2010. She said that Freedom to Connect is, “the idea that governments should not prevent people from connecting to the internet, to websites, or to each other. The freedom to connect is like the freedom of assembly, only in cyberspace.” Her speech presaged the Internet-fueled assemblies from Alexandria, Egypt to Zuccotti Park.
Register now. Very Early Bird pricing now in effect.
The Program so far . . .
Confirmed keynote speakers include Vint Cerf, Michael Copps, Cory Doctorow, Rebecca MacKinnon and Aaron Swartz. Stay tuned for more!
Topics include:
- Big Enough to Succeed: small carriers at the leading edge — entrepreneurial (non-Municipal) carriers show a fourth way (after Telco, Cable and Muni) to the future of connectivity, Confirmed speakers include
- John Brown, CityLink Telecommunications
- Ken Johnson, Conneaut Telephone Company
- Pat Kennedy, Lit San Leandro
- Levi Maaia, Full Channel
- BIP, BTOP, UCAN, Gig-U, Google Fiber and other big pipe experiments
- Freedom & Connectivity from Alexandria, Egypt to Zuccotti Park
- Surveillance, spying, and the undermining of democracy
- Corruption, power and Internet progress
- and . . .
We’re just getting started. Watch this space for further details.
Ideas? Want to be a sponsor? An intern? Contact David S. Isenberg — isen@isen.com
Prior Years:
The theme of F2C: Freedom to Connect 2009 was “The Emerging Internet Economy.” All eyes are on the economy. The Obama Administration has declared the Internet a keystone. Columnist Tom Friedman was our keynote speaker.
The theme of F2C: Freedom to Connect 2008 was “The Netheads Come to Washington.” Open fiber projects in Amsterdam, Tokyo, Louisiana and Vermont were presented. Netroots US Representative Donna Edwards and security expert Bruce Schneier spoke. In addition, F2C devoted half a day to “Making the Internet Carbon-Negative.”
The theme of F2C: Freedom to Connect 2007 was “The Wealth of Networks” featuring Yochai Benkler. Vermont Governor Jim Douglas announced Vermont’s e-state initiative, and FCC Commissioner Adelstein spoke and played the harmonica.
The theme of F2C: Freedom to Connect 2006 was “The Network Neutrality Battle.” James Q. Crowe was the keynote speaker, FCC Commissioner Copps made an appearance, and Representative Rick Boucher gave a frank insider’s view of the politics of the unsuccessful telecom bill of 2006.
The theme of F2C: Freedom to Connect 2005 was “The Future of Communications.” Vint Cerf was the keynote speaker.
Musicians in Residence
Music is perhaps the oldest form of communications technology and an integral part of F2C: Freedom to Connect. Past F2C musicians include:
- 2009: John Jorgenson Quintet
- 2008: Howard Levy and Chris Siebold of Acoustic Express
- 2007: Howard Levy, founding member of The Flecktones and a regular on Prairie Home Companion
- 2006: Joe Craven, the “utility infielder” of Jerry Garcia and David Grisman’s acoustic band
- 2005: Andy Stein, a regular on Prairie Home Companion, founding member of Commander Cody’s Lost Planet Airmen
