F2C speaker Dirk van der Woude, program manager of the municipal broadband policy of Amsterdam, got great news yesterday! The Dutch Trade Minister called upon all Dutch municipalities to follow Amsterdam’s example to co-invest in the roll out out of open fiber networks.
Dirk will tell us more at this exciting event. Please join us!
Permanent link to this article: http://freedom-to-connect.net/2009/03/amsterdam-rocks/
NEW INFO: February 26, 2009. This post, about good rates at the Hampton Inn, has been superseded by the below.
a) Don’t call the manager. Instead call 800-HILTONS (800-445-8667) and ask for the Freedom to Connect rate at the Hampton Inn in Silver Spring. It should still be just under $180 a night.
b) There are equivalent rates for Monday and Tuesday on the Hilton Website (once you figure in the taxes). But there are BETTER RATES for Saturday and Sunday nights. (Hat tip to David Weinberger for spotting this!)
It still looks like the Hampton Inn is still the best deal within walking distance of F2C. That’s where I am staying.
Permanent link to this article: http://freedom-to-connect.net/2009/02/new-hotel-deal-info/
F2C Musician in Residence John Jorgenson just won the “Country Instrumental” Grammy for playing in a seven-guitar collaboration entitled, “Cluster Pluck.” Such a song is a superb fit in a Washington DC based discussion of Internet policy. The other six guitar players included Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, and Albert Lee.
According to the Redlands (CA) Daily Facts, Jorgenson’s hometown newspaper, Jorgenson has played on two other Grammy winning recordings, one by Peter Frampton, the other by Bonnie Raitt. He’s been nominated two more times for work with Earl Scruggs and The Desert Rose Band, which he co-founded. [Article]
Permanent link to this article: http://freedom-to-connect.net/2009/02/f2c-musician-wins-grammy/
Friends and Colleagues,
Announcing . . . (drum roll) . . .
More high-powered speakers for F2C: Freedom to Connect
March 30 & 31, Washington DC.
(Register now: Price goes up February 28!)
The speakers announced below join already-announced speakers such as the CIO of San Francisco, the CTO of Seattle, the Chief Technologist of the FCC, and the visionaries of Lafayette LA, Burlington VT and Glasgow KY municipal networks.
Also, see announcements below:
1) Billy Ray, CEO, Glasgow (KY) Electric Power Board
In the mid-80s, Billy was spurred by energy crisis #2 and an unresponsive cableco to create a broadband network for the citizens of Glasgow KY. By 2001 it was serving 75% of Glasgow’s households at less than 60% of the U.S. average price. Today Ray is building FTTH and thinking about how fiber can asuage the need for new electric power plants.
2) Kevin Werbach was co-leader of President Obama’s FCC Transition Team
He also produces the high-powered, well-respected SuperNova tech conference, and he authored the 1999 FCC report entitled, “Digital Tornado.” Kevin will discuss his experiences on the Obama FCC Transition and the prospects for the new FCC
3) Andrew C. Revkin is the New York Times science reporter
on the “beat” of global climate disruption. He travels the world, witnessing first-hand changes that may indicate bigger changes to come. He’s surfing the edge of Internet reporting on his blog dotEarth
4) L. Aaron Kaplan
will discuss how Vienna Austria’s community-built, community-owned, 500-device, 30-km diameter, Wi-Fi mesh network, free-of-charge to its users has achieved financial sustainability.
John Jorgenson Quintet!!! John Jorgenson earned “best guitarist” three years in a row from the Academy of Country Music. The John Jorgenson Quintet plays hot, hot, hot Django Reinhardt-style Gypsy Jazz. The quintet boasts burning jazz fiddler Jason Anick and a rhythm section so smokin’ I’ve bought carbon credits.
The brand new Hampton Inn, across the street from F2C and down a block, has offered us a real deal — just under $180 a night, which is substantially cheaper than any other hotel within walking distance.
YOU MUST CONTACT THE MANAGER PERSONALLY to get this deal:
Aloysious Cory Phillips, Sales Manager
Phone: 301-563-3843
Email: aloysious.phillips@hilton.com
F2C depends on word-of-web to get the word out! Here are a few of the Collaborating Partners who are helping us with publicity, and what they’re up to:
FTTH Council: Fiber to the Home Council is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of fiber to the home networks. It has been a major driving force in bringing fiber to American homes. It is also very active in Europe and Asia. It’s holding a service provider workshop open to all in New Orleans, March 11.
Agenda here [.pdf] that will include a very knowledgeable analysis of what’s in the Obama stimulus package to spur FTTH networks by Tom Cohen. I went to the FTTH Workshop in Petaluma CA — a most fascinating day! The FTTH Council annual meeting, also open, is another great event featuring the superstars of fiber — this year it is scheduled for Houston, Sept. 27 through Oct. 1.
DSL Prime and FastNetNews: Dave Burstein, editor, is a close observer of the Internet scene, an original who talks to everybody and calls it like he sees it without regard for convention or what passes as wisdom. I’m delighted to give him a plug, and I appreciate his heartfelt enthusiasm for F2C!
Said of FastNetNews — “Often interesting reporting.”
New America Foundation: The New America Foundation hosts the public-spirited network work of my friends Michael Calabrese and Sascha Meinrath. Sascha’s co-chairing an F2C panel on “What we can learn from Networking Failures,” and he’s one of the prime movers behind M-Lab, a suite of tools announced two weeks ago designed to assess the quality and neutrality your Internet connection.
Personal Democracy Forum: How Technology is Changing Politics . . .
PDF’s organizers, Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry are friends and mentors. The annual PDF conference in June 2008 was stellar, unmissable. This year’s PDF event has not been announced yet, but it is certain to be better. This is from the heart: I love these guys and the spectacular events they do!
OpinionSource is a service that consolidates and summarizes Op-Eds and other opinion materials, and puts them all in one place, or slices and dices, e.g., you can get the daily China summary, the Middle East summary, etc. Friend Jack Hidary runs this worthy operation.
Join the Facebook event. Invite your friends.
The registration price goes up 100 bucks after February 28, so please register asap!
I’ll see you at F2C on March 30 & 31!
Permanent link to this article: http://freedom-to-connect.net/2009/02/update-on-f2c/
F2C speakers Sharon Gillett and Joanne Hovis are guests on “The Communicators,” a C-Span program. From this program‘s description:
Sharon Gillet, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Dept. of Telecommunications & Cable, and Joanne Hovis, Nat’l Assn. Of Telecommunications Officers & Advisors, Board Member give their perspectives on the current provisions for broadband included in the House and Senate stimulus bills. Commissioner Gillett discusses how states hope to use the grants for broadband deployment. Ms. Hovis focuss on how cities and localities wish to use the money.
The financial stimulus package is still being debated, adjusted, and combined in the legislature. Will we see a useful package of incentives, or more funding for the old ways? How will that help the nation?
Join us at F2C for a lively discussion on this and more!
Permanent link to this article: http://freedom-to-connect.net/2009/02/national-broadband/
NEW INFO: February 26, 2009.
a) Don’t call the manager. Instead call 800-HILTONS (800-445-8667) and ask for the Freedom to Connect rate at the Hampton Inn in Silver Spring. It should still be just under $180 a night.
b) There are equivalent rates for Monday and Tuesday on the Hilton Website. And BETTER RATES for Saturday and Sunday nights. (Hat tip to David Weinberger for spotting this!)
The manager of the brand new Hampton Inn, about one block from the conference, has offered us a special rate of $159 plus tax, or about $180 total, per night. This is probably at least $50 better than anything nearby. TO GET THIS RATE YOU MUST CONTACT THE MANAGER:
Aloysious Cory Phillips, Sales Manager
Hampton Inn Silver Spring
Phone: 301-563-3843
Fax: 301-588-1841
Email: aloysious.phillips@hilton.com
Permanent link to this article: http://freedom-to-connect.net/2009/02/good-deal-on-hotel-near-f2c/
Freedom-to-Connect partner and speaker Esme Vos has a post on MuniWireless called Find out if your ISP is a bad ISP with Glasnost in which she asks if your ISP is “playing funny games” with your Internet connection. She urges inquiry:
Simply go to Glasnost (appropriate name as it refers to a period in the 1980s in the USSR when there was a bit more openness and transparency). Glasnost is but one weapon in your arsenal for finding out the TRUTH about your broadband connection and your ISP. It is a product of Measurement Lab, founded by the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute, the PlanetLab Consortium, Google Inc. and academic researchers: “M-Lab was developed in 2008 after Vint Cerf and others at Google initiated conversations with network researchers to learn more about challenges to the effective study of broadband networks.”
She reported that her ISP came out clean. I can report (finally, busy servers) that my ISP is doing well as of this post. However, all ISPs will not have such good reports. What should be done about it?
Join us at Freedom to Connect to discuss this and more! Here’s a link to the registration page.
Permanent link to this article: http://freedom-to-connect.net/2009/01/is-your-isp-evil/
Friends and Colleagues,
Just a quick note. The price of admission to F2C: Freedom to Connect goes up $100, from $395 to $495, this Sunday, February 1. The details are at http://freedom-to-connect.net
F2C: Freedom to Connect will occur March 30 & 31 in Washington DC. This year, F2C is a partnership between isen.com, LLC and MuniWireless. Esme Vos of MuniWireless writes:
This year, President-elect Barack Obama has made
broadband — its cost, quality and availability — a
major issue for his administration to tackle.
Broadband is, in the eyes of the new administration,
not just there for its own sake, but is the means to
improving our lives: from the education of our children
to the reduction of social isolation among seniors to
efficient management of our energy grid.There will be a lot of new people in Washington DC.
In the past, many of Freedom to Connect’s attendees
have come from the FCC, various federal government
agencies, the Congress and the Senate. We need to have
a dialogue with them about the future of broadband
and technological innovation in the United States.
Next week F2C will cost $100 more. Tickets at the door will be $795. So register now.
I hope to see you at F2C: Freedom to Connect!
Permanent link to this article: http://freedom-to-connect.net/2009/01/quick-note-on-f2c-freedom-to-connect/
This book was recommended on Jerry Michalski’s Yi-Tan call on Wireless Broadband this morning: …and Communications for All: A Policy Agenda for the New Administration
Permanent link to this article: http://freedom-to-connect.net/2009/01/policy-a-book-recommendation/
F2C speaker Sascha Meinrath and The New America Foundation is in the news again with a report entitled Building a 21st Century Broadband Superhighway: A Concrete Build-out Plan to Bring High-Speed Fiber to Every Community. In this report, the authors describe
a fundamental commitment to building an open and accessible high-speed links, allowing a multitude of service providers and services to utilize the infrastructure on a wholesale, non-discriminatory basis, and ensuring that this public investment is as beneficial as possible to the maximum number of potential users.
From the report:
The 21st Century Broadband Superhighway initiative would fund and mandate the installation of high-capacity, dark fiber bundles along all federally-subsidized and direct federal highway projects, thus creating over time a fully interconnected, public access fiber infrastructure to bring high-speed connectivity to every community served by these highways.
While this report offers a workable proposal, an article in Ars Technica, Two-thirds of Americans without broadband don’t want it, points out that
Pew’s Internet & American Life Project reminds us that a hardcore contingent of holdouts won’t, no matter how cheap or how fast the connection is.
What will become of the Info Superhighway? Come to F2C to explore these views and more!
Permanent link to this article: http://freedom-to-connect.net/2009/01/broadband-superhighway/
"Creating Sustainable Broadband Solutions for Communities and Anchor Institutions" May 23 & 24, Wash DC.
"Human Rights & Technology" May 31 & June 1, Rio de Janeiro.
