F2C: Freedom to Connect

Friends, Colleagues, Critics, All who care about the future of the Internet,

F2C: Freedom to Connect will unfold on March 30 & 31 in Washington DC, details at http://freedom-to-connect.net

F2C has a brand new Web site! It has been live for less than 24 hours. We appreciate all the eyes we can get; many eyes make all glitches trivial. If you notice any “opportunities for improvement,” please let us know and we’ll fix them right away!

Two additions to the program are so new they’re not yet on the Web site:

• Sharon Gillett, the Massachusetts Commissioner of Telecommunications and Cable and
• Bill Schrier, CTO, City of Seattle.

The low, low price of $295 is only in effect another 36 hours. When the ball drops the price goes up to $395. UPDATE:$395 price is in effect for the month of January . . . and it will be $795 at the door — if F2C doesn’t sell out. http://freedom-to-connect.net/registration/

Stay tuned for further exciting developments.

David I

Friends, Colleagues, Critics, All who care about the future of the Internet,

F2C: Freedom to Connect 2009 will be held F2C: Freedom to Connect, March 30 & 31, 2009 in Washington DC. You can still register at the Very Early Bird price of $295 as long as the calendar says 2008! On 1/1/2009 it will cost you $100 more, so register here now.

The official F2C: Freedom to Connect Web site, with all the basics is at http://freedom-to-connect.net

The F2C: Freedom to Connect program has been coming together rapidly over the last two weeks! Below, please find the very latest details. The details of this aren’t even on the Web site yet.

But first, we interrupt this email for an important announcement: isen.com, LLC warmly welcomes the partnership of MuniWireless.com in the production of F2C: Freedom to Connect, and the able assistance of the amazing Esme Vos!

Returning to our regularly scheduled update, I am very excited to report that the newest CONFIRMED speakers at F2C now include:

Chris Vein, the first-ever CIO of San Francisco. Chris will present the vision and plan for San Francisco’s municipal fiber network. Speaking of first-ever CIOs, I’d bet Chris will have some choice insights into the role of the Obama Administration’s proposed Federal CIO!

Chris Vein will be part of a panel of distinguished municipal CIOs that Joanne Hovis is pulling together, all of whom are planning fiber for their cities. Watch this space for updates.

Jon Peha, who is CURRENTLY the Chief Technologist of the FCC (who knows what he’ll be by March 30!) will tell us everything he possibly can about the important issues that have crossed his radar screen over the past months.

Esme Vos and Sascha Meinrath will review municipal networking efforts that have, ahem, been less than successful, and discuss what we’ve learned from them, and how to apply these learnings to make new efforts more successful.

James Salter, one of the original been-there, done-that guys of the Fiber to the Home movement. He’ll discuss what it takes to build a state-of-the-art Internet access network in your community.

Terry Huval, the fiddle-playing Cajun visionary at the head of Lafayette, Louisiana’s municipal fiber network will have turned on his first FTTH customers by the time F2C rolls around. He’ll tell us what he’s learned and what’s next for Lafayette.

Paul Kaputska, of Sidecuts Report, will discuss the prospects for Wi-Max. Dewayne “Broadband Cowboy” Hendricks will discuss, and perhaps even debate. The ether will grow warmer during this session.

Derek Slater, co-author of “Homes with Tails” will present the “condominium fiber” concept. Bill St. Arnaud, one of the prime movers behind the condo fiber idea will elaborate. I expect that Bill will also give an update on another area where he is a global thought-leader; Green Broadband.

Larry Keyes, a researcher and entrepreneur from fiber-rich Burlington VT, will show some applications of what he calls “Tele-HealthCare.”

You can find the full list of speakers – including some great ones I’ve already announced – at http://freedom-to-connect.net/speakers.

F2C Futures: After the Inauguration, we’re going to make a big push to get the shapers of Obama Administration Internet policy to share their Internet visions with the F2C: Freedom to Connect audience, so watch for important announcements in early February!

Musicians in Residence: We’re in advanced stages of negotiation with The John Jorgenson Quintet. (Note: NOT confirmed, but very likely!) Jorgenson played in the Elton John band for six years, and he is a founding member of The (legendary, formative) Desert Rose Band. He plays guitar, clarinet, sax, piano, pedal-steel and mandolin. The Quintet’s specialty is gypsy jazz, featuring John’s guitar and the hot, hot violin of Jason Anick. Thanks to David Eisner of the House of Musical Traditions for helping F2C score this great band.

New Sponsor: Millennium Communications Group Inc. has agreed to become supporting sponsor, joining Alcatel-Lucent (lead sponsor) and The Sunlight Foundation (supporting sponsor), all of whom are absolutely critical to F2C’s existence.

So that’s the hottest news from F2C. I’m thrilled. I hope you’re catching enough of my emotion that you’ll consider registering at the outrageously low Very Early Bird price of $295. This price is only in effect 13 more days, most of which are holidays . . . you know what to do!

See you at F2C: Freedom to Connect!
David I (and Esme Vos)

. . . at F2C: Freedom to Connect, March 30 & 31, 2009 in Washington DC.

Details at http://freedom-to-connect.net (here).

Extremely early price, $295 in effect through 12/31/08.
Register here.

F2C: Freedom to Connect 2009 presents the people of the Internet who enable economic growth, strengthen democracy, facilitate creativity and innovation, make the Earth greener and lower the barriers that divide people.

This year, the theme of F2C: Freedom to Connect is The Emerging Internet Economy.

• We will tell the story of on-line, network-enabled industry, culture, new jobs and sustainable growth.
• We will dive into Burlington VT, where a municipal fiber network enables on-line business, artistic endeavor, and experiments in telemedicine and city governance.
• We will tell how Lafayette LA came together behind building its own municipal fiber network. We’ll consider the twin cities of Cedar Falls and Waterloo, Iowa, where one twin has a city-wide network, and the other doesn’t.
• We’ll take a close look at the potential for Seattle, Portland and San Francisco’s plans for a united tri-city fiber network.
• We’ll hear about city nets that didn’t work, wired and wireless – what went wrong and what that teaches.
• We’ll see through insider’s eyes what the Obama Administration’s infrastructure initiatives mean for tomorrow’s network. And more . . .

The list of distinguished speakers at F2C: Freedom to Connect is here: http://freedom-to-connect.net/speakers/ (This is updated frequently as new speakers are confirmed.)

F2C: Not your usual tech policy conference! In the words of Internet entrepreneur Tom Evslin:

F2C is the absolutely unbuttoned-down deep thought conference of telecommunications. You’ll find movers and shakers here (some ducked down in hiding); you’ll find thinkers; and you’ll find those who have been and those who will be the guiding forces in telecommunications. There’s no way you’ll agree with everything that’s said and plenty of ways to make your opinion known whether you’re on the formal program or not.

F2C: A different view of the Internet’s impact! In the words of Martin Geddes of Telco 2.0:

[F2C] is a bit like taking a red pill and seeing the world rather differently. Unmissable. See you there.

Who: Network builders, entrepreneurs, artists, planners, vendors, customers, advocates, regulators, legislators, analysts, financiers, citizens and co-creators.

What: A two-day voyage of participation, discussion and exploration of the Internet’s potential.

When: From 8:00 AM on March 30 to 5:00 PM on March 31, 2009.

Where: F2C will occur at the AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring MD 20910.

Why: It is written that Freedom of the Press is only for those with presses. The Internet now makes Freedom of the Press available to about 3,000,000,000 people, almost half of Earth’s humans. At F2C: Freedom to Connect, we explore how this changes the fundamental operating assumptions of society, and ask,”What next?”

Register now. Extremely early price, $295, goes up $100 on 1/1/09.
Register here: http://freedom-to-connect.net/registration