F2C: Freedom to Connect

If you care about the future of media and telecommunications and free speech, this is going to be a major event. Jeff Jarvis in BuzzMachine	. . . fantastic (I've seen his conferences before) and important (I know this issue well) conference . . . reserve early and often. Larry Lessig in lessig blog
Freedom to Connect may be the most important conference in 2005, based on a critical worldchanging concept: The need to communicate is primary, like the need to breathe, eat, sleep, reproduce, socialize and learn. Jon Lebkowsky in Worldchanging	Every event David runs that I've been to is a bit like taking a red pill and seeing the world rather differently. Unmissable. See you there. Martin Geddes in Telepocalypse
. . . freedom is the right of every person and the future of every nation. George W. Bush, State of the Union	. . . a kickass conference . . . sign up. Jeff Jarvis in BuzzMachine

The Latest!
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20 Megabit per second link established!!! 23March05
A browser-independent back-channel will make everybody a participant.
Bring your 802.11-enabled laptop to be a full F2C participant!
thanks to Atlantech, AFI Silver, Motorola, Cisco, Tom Freeburg, Dewayne Hendricks, Greg Elin,
Manuel Kiessling, John Summers and Ken Magrow for growing this access link with me.

F2C Will Be Webcast. 23March05
Free, as in Free Speech *and* Free Beer!
Chat on the back-channel to participate from wherever there's net.
Stay tuned here for details, to be announced soon.

EFF auctions second F2C pass on eBay
Pay more for F2C, support EFF! (All auction proceeds go directly to EFF) Updated 15Mar05
Congrats to John Biddle, winner of first EFF F2C seat!
John Perry Barlow added to program, will talk on "Ignorant Network" 15Mar05
Also Andrew Schwartzman (Media Access Project), Jay Stanley (ACLU), Esme Vos (MuniWireless)
Dewayne Hendricks, David Lytel 15Mar05
Jonathan Askin, Varinia Robinson 23Mar05
Announcing F2C Musician in Residence 17Feb05
Acknowledgements (Thanks, friends, for all the amazing, wonderful help!) Updated 11Feb05

Program -- Rev 0.9.9 still a draft until the end. Updated 31Mar05

Wednesday
March 30

most recent changes have yellow box

8:00 - 9:00 AM

Registration, Breakfast

9:00 - 10:30 AM

David Isenberg: Introduction

Lee Rainie: Who are all these people?

Susan Crawford: Attacks on Freedom to Connect

10:30 - 11:00 AM

Break

11:00 AM - Noon

The Fight for Local Freedom to Connect

Jim Baller, Munis vs. Incumbents
Terry Huval, The Battle of Lafayette

Noon - 1:00 PM

Lunch served on premises

1:00 - 1:45 PM

F2C and our other Freedoms

Jeff Jarvis interviews
First Amendment Attorney Robert Corn-Revere

1:45 - 2:45 PM

Dan Gillmor, Freedom of the Press
Scott Heiferman, Freedom of Assembly
Rev. AKM Adam, Freedom of Religion
Jerry Michalski, Moderator

2:45 - 3:15 PM

Break

3:15 - 4:15 PM

Networks for Small Blue Planets

Brian Condon, F2C in Europe
Farooq Hussain, Crisis in International Peering
Rahul Tongia, F2C in Developing Countries
Daniel Berninger, F2C Treaty among Nations
Rebecca MacKinnon, Global Voices Manifesto
Gary Arlen, Moderator

4:15 - 4:30 PM

Short Break

4:30 - 5: 30 PM

Short Talks

Gary Shapiro, Mark del Bianco, Jo Lee, Chuck Wilsker, Jay Hellman, David Lytel, Jonathan Askin

5:30 - 11:00 PM

Reception, Eggspectations (right behind AFI Silver)

John Perry Barlow, The Ignorant Network

Buffet Dinner

Susan Crawford, Introduction of Vint Cerf
Vint Cerf, After Dinner Speech

More Eating, Drinking, Merriment (buy your own after 10PM)

Thursday,
March 31

8:00 - 9:00 AM

Breakfast

9:00 - 10:30 AM

The Great Debate (my writeup here)

Rick Whitt, MCI, & Tim Wu, U of C Law School

vs.

Randy May, PFF & James Gattuso, Heritage Foundation

Moderator: Charlie Firestone, Aspen Institute

10:30-11:00 AM

Break

11:00 AM - Noon

What's Incumbent upon Incumbents?

Mark Cooper, Consumer Federation of America
Andrew Schwartzman, Media Access Project
Jay Stanley, ACLU
Kevin Werbach, moderator

Noon - 1:00 PM

Lunch served on premises

1:00 - 1:30 PM

John Perry Barlow, The Ignorant Network

1:00 - 2:30 PM

Building Connected Communities

Varinia Robinson, City of Philadelphia
Ben Scott, Policy Director, Free Press
Dewayne Hendricks, Dandin Group
J.H. Snider, New America Foundation, moderator

2:30 - 3:00 PM

Break

2:30 - 3:30 PM

Short talks (sorta): Cynthia de Lorenzi, Om Malik, Matt Wenger, Jack Baron, others

3:30 - 4:30 PM

David Weinberger, Only Connect (closing keynote)

4:30 - 5:30 PM

What happens here?

5:30 PM

Adjourn

What's the Big Idea Here? F2C: Freedom to Connect updated 1Mar05

WHO: F2C is for all who care about -- and are affected by -- network connectivity, economics, applications and policy.

WHAT: F2C is where communications policy meets networking technology, network economics, networked applications, and network construction and operation. F2C is dedicated to the proposition that strong networks build strong democracies, and vice versa.

WHEN: From 8:00 AM on March 30 through 5:00 PM, March 31, 2005.

WHERE: F2C will convene at AFI Silver, a short walk from the Silver Spring Metro station. The Silver Spring Metro is six stops from Washington, D.C., Union Station on the Red Line. Interactive Map of Washington Metro here. See driving and parking directions here. AFI Silver is the newly restored theater complex of the American Film Institute.

PARTICIPATION FEE: $350. Register here.

Why Freedom to Connect? updated 17Jan05

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.

Freedom to Connect begins with two assumptions. First, if some connectivity is good, then more connectivity is better. Second, if a connection that does one thing is good, then a connection that can do many things is better.

It is written that Freedom of the Press is only for those with presses. But Freedom to Connect is potentially available to everybody; the main economic limit is the need for sustainable networks that will improve as new technology becomes available. How can we best do this? Who will build, operate and govern these networks? Who will decide how we use them? Who will pay? Who will gain? Aha! Let's discuss it at Freedom to Connect.

Registered Participants: updated 29Mar05

FirstName	LastName	Email Address	Company/Department
A K M	Adam	akma at mac dot com	Seabury-Western Theological Seminary
Saul	Aguiar	aguiars0 at lycos dot com	Doctor Strangecode, Ltd.
Tony	Aiuto	tony at aiu dot to
Gary	Arlen	garyarlen at engineer dot com	The Alwyn Group LLC + Arlen Communications Inc.
Jonathan	Askin	jaskin at pulver dot com	pulver.com
Jim	Baller	jim at baller dot com	Baller Herbst Law Group
Jack	Baron	jack dot baron at paetec dot com	PAETEC Communications
Daniel	Berninger	dan at danielberninger dot com	Tier1 Research
Scott	Berry	sjb at optonline dot net	VillEdge Networks
Steve	Berry	khuzarsky at ncta dot com	NCTA
John	Biddle	john dot biddle at jpmchase dot com
Max	Borders	max_borders at hotmail dot com	Open World
Nancy	Bordier-Skougor	n dot j dot bordier-skougor at worldnet dot att dot net	Third Force Network
Luke	Brean	lbrean at gmail dot com
John	Breyault	johnb at trac dot org	Telecommunications Research and Action Center
Charles	Brown	brown at wireless-networks dot com	Wireless Networks, Inc.
Farooq	Butt	rzyr30 at email dot mot dot com	Motorola
Matthew	Byrd	matt dot byrd at packetfront dot com	PacketFront
Robert	Cannon	Robert dot Cannon at fcc dot gov	Federal Communications Commission
Vinton	Cerf	vinton dot g dot cerf at mci dot com	MCI
Paul	Coe Clark III	pclark at tr dot com	Telecommunications Reports
Brian	Condon	brian dot condon at complexitygroup dot com	The Complexity Group
Gordon	Cook	cook at cookreport dot com	The COOK Report on Internet
Elliot	Cook	ecrcook at post dot harvard dot edu	RHE Technologies, Inc.
Mark	Cooper	markcooper at aol dot com	Consumer Federation of America
Bob	Corn-Revere	bobcornrevere at dwt dot com	Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Spencer	Cosmos	prof dot cosmos at earthlink dot net	TheMediaFoundry
Susan	Crawford	scrawford at scrawford dot net	Cardozo Law School
Cynthia	de Lorenzi	CdeLorenzi at patriot dot net	PatriotNet
Mark	Del Bianco	mdelbianco at aya dot yale dot edu	Attorney
Bill	Densmore	densmore at mediagiraffe dot org	Media Giraffe Project
Timothy	Denton	tim at tmdenton dot com	tmdenton.com
Sanford	Dickert	sdickert at rawlingsatlantic dot com	Rawlings Atlantic
Jon	Eisenberg	jeisenbe at nas dot edu	National Academies
Greg	Elin	greg at fotonotes dot net	FotoNotes, LLC
James	Fallows	jfallows at gmail dot com
Bill	Farkas	william dot farkas at sheridanc dot on dot ca
Ed	Fineran	efineran at atlantech dot net	Atlantech Online, Inc.
Charlie	Firestone	firestone at aspeninstitute dot org	The Aspen Institute
Bob	Frankston	F2C at bobf dot frankston dot com	Frankston Innovating
James	Gattuso	james dot gattuso at heritage dot org	The Heritage Foundation
Martin	Geddes	mail at martingeddes dot com	Telepocalypse, LTD
Dan	Gillmor	dan at gillmor dot com	Grassroots Media Inc.
Gerry	Gleason	gerry at geraldgleason dot com	Gerald Gleason.com
Alexander	Goldman	agoldman at jupitermedia dot com	Jupitermedia Corporation
Curtis	Groves	Curtis dot Groves at MCI dot com	MCI
Scott	Heiferman	scott at heiferman dot com	Meetup.com
Jay	Hellman	jay dot hellman at alum dot mit dot edu	The Hellman Company, Inc.
Dewayne	Hendricks	dewayne at dandin dot com	Dandin Group
Eric	Hensal	ehensal at starpower dot net	nyfairuse.org
Mary	Hodder	Mary at Hodder dot org	Napsterization
Farooq	Hussain	fhussain at networkconceptions dot com	Network Conceptions LLC
Terry	Huval	thuval at lus dot org	Lafayette Utility Systems
Aldon	Hynes	ahynes1 at optonline dot net	GreaterDemocracy.org
David	Isenberg	isen at isen dot com	isen.com, LLC
Vaughn	Iverson	vsivsi at yahoo dot com
Jeff	Jarvis	jeff at buzzmachine dot com	Advance.net
Tekedra	Jefferson	tekedram at aol dot com
Robert	Judge	rob at vansam dot com	Vansam Software
Sarah	Kaufman	sarahkaufman at nyu dot edu	New York University; Wagner School
Dean	Landsman	dean at land-com dot net	Landsman Communications Group
Jo	Lee	jo_lee at citizenspeak dot org	CitizenSpeak.org
Blair	Levin	BLevin at LMUS dot LeggMason dot com	Legg Mason
Richard	Levine	rlevine at lecg dot com	LECG, LLC
Kecia	Lewis	kblewis1 at hotmail dot com	MCI, Inc.
Casey	Lide	casey at baller dot com
David	Lytel	david at lytel dot com	Left.org
Rebecca	MacKinnon	rmackinnon at cyber dot law dot harvard dot edu	Berkman Ctr. for Internet & Society
Skip	Malette	skipm at whoever dot com	community networking activist
Om	Malik	opm at mac dot com	Business 2.0
Tom	Mandel	tom at tommandel dot com	seedwiki
Michael	Maranda	mmaranda at afcn dot org	The Association For Community Networking
Malcolm	Matson	malcolm dot matson at oplan dot org	The OPLAN Foundation
Elliot	Maxwell	emaxwell at erols dot com
Randolph	May	rmay at pff dot org	Progress and Freedom Foundation
Beth	Mazur	bmazur at aarp dot org	AARP Services, Inc.
Richard	Mendel-Black	rmb at dymaxionweb dot com	Dymaxion Web
Jerry	Michalski	jerry at sociate dot com	Sociate
Robert	Morlino	rmorlino at publicintegrity dot org	The Center for Public Integrity
Frank	Muto	info at ispnetworks dot org	FSM Marketing Group, Inc - WBIA
Andrew	Nachison	andrew at mediacenter dot org	The Media Center
Jerry	Nelson	nelsonic at ieee dot org	National Institutes of Health
Michael	Nelson	mrn at us dot ibm dot com	IBM Corporation
Veronica	O'Connell	voconnell at ce dot org	Consumer Electronics Association
Robert	Pepper	rpepper at fcc dot gov	Federal Communications Commission
Dale	Peskin	dale at mediacenter dot org	The Media Center
Joe	Plotkin	heyjoe at bway dot net	Bway.net
Jean	Plymale	jplymale at vt dot edu	Virginia Tech
William	Raffel	raffelwe at buffalostate dot edu	Buffalo State College
Lee	Rainie	lrainie at pewinternet dot org	Pew Internet & American Life Project
Varinia	Robinson	varinia dot robinson at phila dot gov	City of Philadelphia/MOIS
Heath	Row	kalel at wel dot com	Fast Company
Diego	Sanchez	dsanchez at upacifico dot edu dot ec
David	Sandel	dsandel at netlabs dot biz	NetLabs LLC
Andrew	Schwartzman	andys at mediaaccess dot org	Media Access Project
Ben	Scott	bscott at freepress dot net	Free Press
Fred	Seigneur	william dot f dot seigneur at lmco dot com	Lockheed Martin
Gary	Shapiro	gshapiro at ce dot org	Consumer Electronics Assoc.
Micah	Sifry	micah at sifry dot com	Personal Democracy Forum
Benjamin	Slade	PublicMailbox at benslade dot com	HammerSoft.com
Stephen	Smith	s dot smith at ampersand dot com	Ampersand, Inc.
J.H.	Snider	Snider at newamerica dot net	New America Foundation
Christopher	Soghoian	csoghoian at jhu dot edu	Johns Hopkins University
Emily	Sopensky	emily at iriscompany dot com	The Iris Company
Jeffrey	Sterling	orders at ixa dot net	IXA, LLC
Sean	Stokes	sstokes at baller dot com	Baller Herbst Law Group
Ted	Stout	ted at villedge dot net	VillEdge Networks
Steve	Stroh	steve at stevestroh dot net	FOCUS On BWIA Newsletter
Jim	Sutton	jim at wirelesstechradio dot com	Wireless Tech Radio
Kaarli	Tasso	kaarli at post dot harvard dot edu	Business Strategist
Mostafa	Terrab	MTerrab at worldbank dot org	The World Bank
Rahul	Tongia	tongia at cmu dot edu	Carnegie Mellon University
Brough	Turner	rbt at nmss dot com	NMS Communications
Kenneth	Tyler	ken at seedwiki dot com	seedwiki
Isabel	Walcott	i at post dot harvard dot edu
Sara	Wedeman	sara at behavioraleconomics dot net	BECG-Behavioral Economics Consulting Group, LLC
David	Weinberger	self at evident dot com	Journal of the Hyperlinked Organization
Stephen	Wendel	steve at uxolo dot net
Matt	Wenger	matt dot wenger at packetfront dot com	PacketFront
Kevin	Werbach	kevin at iliveinemail dot com	SuperNova Group
Rick	Whitt	richard dot whitt at mci dot com	MCI
Wendy	Wigen	wwigen at educause dot edu	EDUCAUSE
Robert Bruce	Williamson	windwardresearch at attglobal dot net	Windward Research Group
Chuck	Wilsker	chuck at telcoa dot org	The Telework Coalition
John	Windhausen	jwind at cavtel dot net	Telepoly
Norm	Wright	nwwright1 at hotmail dot com	Lafayette Group, Inc.
Joel	Wright	jwright at dynamiccity dot com	DynamicCity, Inc.
Tim	Wu	wu at pobox dot com	University of Chicago Law School
Erol	Ziya	erolz at cream dot org	Access to Broadband Campaign

Musician in Residence: updated 17Feb05

Andy Stein will be Musician in Residence at F2C: Freedom to Connect. Andy, a Grammy winner, plays Bach to rock, he's played with Itzhak Perlman and Charlie Daniels, he's been on with David Letterman and Garrison Keillor, he's done Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway and was a founding member of Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen.

Why a musician in residence? Music is a form of communications technology, perhaps the oldest form. Andy will introduce and end every session of F2C with music. It'll work. You'll see.

Sponsors: updated 1Mar05

Program sponsors: MCI, Sun Microsystems, Google, Consumer Electronics Association, PaeTec Communications, Center for Digital Democracy, PacketFront, New America Foundation, Electronic Frontier Foundation, others to be added soon.
Media Sponsors: Telecommunications Magazine, VON Magazine
Technical Support Sponsors: Cisco Systems, Motorola, Atlantech

Register for F2C -- $350. Payment accepted by Visa, MasterCard, Check, and small unmarked bills. Refund policy: Beginning March 1, no refunds. Admission is transferrable upon two-week notice via email.

Lodging Information updated 10Feb05

There are two hotels within walking distance of the F2C Conference venue, a Hilton and a Holiday Inn. Right now a "conference rate" would not be better than using on-line discount services, or the hotels' own Web sites, so there is no negotiated rate at either of these. If you're after "budget," about 1.5 miles away there's a little cluster with a Day's Inn, a Ramada, and a Quality Inn. Use hotels.com to reserve a specific hotel. (I have had good luck using Priceline and Hotwire in the Washington DC area, but these do not let you choose specific hotels.) Reserve early -- DC's cherry blossom time is likely to be that week.

Travel Information updated 17Jan05

Washington DC has Amtrak and three major airports. National (DCA) is the most convenient, and it is right on the Metro. Dulles (IAD) and Baltimore Washington (BWI) are less expensive to fly into because they are served by discounters like Ted and Southwest. Dulles is best for international flights.

Acknowledgements updated 11Feb05

Thanks to Gary Arlen, Jack Baron, Joshua Boehr, Daniel Berninger, Jeff Chester, Judi Clark, Elliot Cook, Tim Cook, Susan Crawford, Cynthia de Lorenzi, Glenn Edens, Greg Elin, Ed Fineran, Dawn Fox, Tom Freeburg, Martin Geddes, Dewayne Hendricks, Jeff Jarvis, Maury Kauffman, Jon Lebkowsky, Om Malik, Earl Mardle, Andrew McLaughlin, Judith Meskill, Jerry Michalski, Sue O'Keefe, Gary Shapiro, Clay Shirky, Jim Snider, Lori Sousa, John Summers, Matt Wenger, Kevin Werbach, Rick Whitt, and all the other people who are helping make F2C a reality.

CMA: While all of the above is presented in good faith, please take all of it as a best effort attempt rather than a guarantee. Everything here is subject to change without notice. Of course, if things change, I'll do my very best to let all interested parties know asap. All I'm saying is let's be reasonable; if you don't expect me to do the impossible, I will, in exchange, attempt to do it. David Isenberg

F2C is a production of isen.com, LLC