NYC LOCAL: 10:00 am Friday 30 March 2007: New York City Broadband Advisory Committee Hearing on Network Neutrality

[secretary]

Here is a quote from the official announcement:

     Sponsored by the Office of Council Member Gale A. Brewer (CD 6 - 
 Manhattan), the Office of the Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, 
 Bronx Community College and the South Bronx Overall Economic Development 
 Corporation (SoBRO), the New York City Broadband Advisory Committee will 
 hold its first public hearing on Friday, March 30, from 10 am to Noon, 
 in the Gould Memorial Library Auditorium, Bronx Community College, 
 University Avenue at W. 181st Street. 

Appended below my personal note is the whole official announcement.


Personal Note by Jay Sulzberger:

The issue of Common Carriage, or as it has been mis-renamed,
Network Neutrality, has been largely mis-stated in the popular
press.  On February 14 and 15, 2007, the Federal Trade Commission
held a Workshop on Network Neutrality and I submitted a comment
on the proceedings.  The official version of my comment is at

http://www.ftc.gov/os/comments/broadbandwrkshop/527031-00056.pdf

but the better rendition by Jon Newton is at

http://www.p2pnet.net/story/11682

At the workshop, Ronald Yokubaitis of Data Foundry,

http://www.datafoundry.com/about_us

spoke clearly about what is really at stake.  Ronald Yokubaitis's
formal submission to the workshop is at

http://www.ftc.gov/opp/workshops/broadband/presentations/yokubaitis1.pdf

and a transcript of what he actually said at the podium is at

http://wwwhatsup.com/isoc-ny/FTC_NN8


This Friday, at 10:00 am in the Bronx, Gale Brewer's New York
City Broadband Advisory Committee will meet to hear testimony
regarding delivery of the Internet at high speed to all of New
York City.  Seth Johnson of the Dynamic Platform Standards project

http://www.dpsproject.com

and John Perry Barlow of the Bar Cross Land and Livestock
Company, the Grateful Dead, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation

http://homes.eff.org/~barlow

will speak.


We New Yorkers who know that the Net is not cable TV, not even
interactive cable TV, have a chance, over the next few months, to
convey the facts of the matter to Gale Brewer's committee, and to
all the City Council.  There will be more meetings, and more
testimony.  Let us stop the Englobulators from taking our Net.
Let us stop them, here in New York City.


Below is the official announcement from Bruce Lai.

Jay Sulzberger <secretary@lxny.org>
Corresponding Secretary LXNY
LXNY is New York's Free Computing Organization.
http://www.lxny.org



 Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2007 16:15:59 -0400
 From: Bruce Lai <bruce.lai@council.nyc.ny.us>
 Subject: REMINDER: BROADBAND ADVISORY COMMITTEE HEARING THIS FRIDAY, MARCH 30 
IN THE BRONX.

 Hello All,

     This is just a quick reminder.  Hope to see you there!

 *****

     Sponsored by the Office of Council Member Gale A. Brewer (CD 6 - 
 Manhattan), the Office of the Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, 
 Bronx Community College and the South Bronx Overall Economic Development 
 Corporation (SoBRO), the New York City Broadband Advisory Committee will 
 hold its first public hearing on Friday, March 30, from 10 am to Noon, 
 in the Gould Memorial Library Auditorium, Bronx Community College, 
 University Avenue at W. 181st Street. 

     For detailed directions via subway and by car and a full list of 
 Committee members (along with their bios), go to the unofficial website 
 of the NYC Broadband Advisory Committee:

     * http://nycbroadband.blogspot.com/ <http://nycbroadband.blogspot.com>

     Council Member Gale A. Brewer, Bronx Borough President Adolfo 
 Carrion Jr. and Bronx Community College President Carolyn Williams will 
 all make opening remarks.  The Committee will then hear testimony from 
 members of the general public, including concerned citizens and senior 
 citizens from Bronx senior centers.  After the official testimony 
 period, anyone from the audience is invited -- and encouraged -- to speak.

     The next public hearing is tentatively scheduled for mid-May in 
 downtown Brooklyn.

     If you cannot make it to the hearing on March 30, we still want to 
 hear from you!  You can comment about the issue of broadband in New York 
 City by going to the Advisory Committee's blog (see above).  Comments 
 will then be posted on the Committee's blog for public consumption.  Or 
 you can mail any questions or comments to Colleen Pagter, Policy Analyst 
 for the Committee on Technology in Government, New York City Council, 
 250 Broadway, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10007.
    
     Forwarding and posting information about the March 30th event and 
 the Broadband Advisory Committee is strongly encouraged!

 *****

     Our friend, Craig Newmark, was nice enough to post something about 
 the Bronx hearing on his own blog:  http://cnewmark.com/.

 *****

     Informationweek did a quick story on Friday's hearing last week.

     New Yorkers Want To Stay On Right Side Of Digital Divide

     * 
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=198100613&subSection=All+Stories

 *****

     From Bob Atkinson of Columbia's CITI ...
           
     Columbia Institute for Tele-Information (CITI) & New York 
 Telecommunications Reliability Advisory Council (NYTRAC) Present:
     Telecommunications Reliability in the Information Capital of the World
     May 17, 2007
     Columbia University, New York

     New York City depends on its telecommunications infrastructure. High 
 quality, high speed and highly reliable telecommunications services are 
 the lifeblood of the financial services, media, advertising and software 
 industries. The City's government has become information-centric, using 
 telecommunications to deliver critical municipal services to citizens. 
 Thousands of New Yorkers work for web-based businesses, delivering 
 services to clients around the world, and thousands more telecommute 
 regularly.

     Is New York's telecommunications infrastructure up to the challenge 
 - is it reliable enough to support an information-dependent economy and 
 society?  Could it be more reliable? Are users willing to pay for an 
 ultra-reliable infrastructure? Could network operators provide such a 
 network, and what would it cost? What can (and should) government do to 
 help?  These questions are not just relevant to New York. As the United 
 States becomes increasingly dependent on reliable telecommunications, 
 the experience and lessons learned in New York will be applicable across 
 the country.

     CITI and NYTRAC are organizing a full-day conference at Columbia 
 University to examine these and other questions. Expert representatives 
 of major users, suppliers of telecom services and all levels of 
 government will ask and answer the critical questions surrounding 
 telecommunications reliability in New York.

     Additional details will be posted on the CITI and NYTRAC websites, 
 or for more information, please contact John Heywood , CITI's Assistant 
 Director, by email or at 212-854-4222.

 *****

     Wi-Fi Hotspot Survey
  
     Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to fill out the WiFi 
 Hotspot Survey that is being conducted by Laura Forlano, a graduate 
 student in Communications at Columbia University.  With your help, Laura 
 has received nearly 500 responses and has decided to extend the survey 
 until the end of April.  In addition, groups around the world in cities 
 including Montreal, Budapest and Berlin have expressed interest in 
 running the survey in their communities.  If you have not yet responded 
 to the survey, you can take it at: 
 https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=735302651119.  The survey takes 
 about ten minutes to complete.  Participants will be entered into a 
 drawing for an iPod or a $300 donation to a charity of your choice.  If 
 you have questions about the survey, please contact Laura Forlano at 
 wirelessinternetsurvey@yahoo.com.

 *****

     About the New York City Council's Committee on Technology in Government

     The primary goals of the Committee on Technology in Government are:  
 (1) to expand digital equality by increasing access to broadband in 
 underserved communities in New York City (2) to increase the strategic 
 use of technology in government, thereby increasing efficiency in 
 government and enhancing the quality of public services and (3) to 
 promote the openness and transparency of government by making sure that 
 public information is accessible to every New York City resident.  
 Through its ability to hold oversight hearings over City agencies and to 
 introduce and hear legislation, the Committee on Technology in 
 Government works to achieve its goals in partnership with the private, 
 public and nonprofit sectors. More information about the Committee and 
 the Chair of the Committee, Council Member Gale A. Brewer, can be found 
 at the following link:

     * 
http://nyccouncil.info/issues/committee.cfm?committee_id=106&ltsbdkey=5121


     All Committee briefing papers from the current session (beginning in 
 January 2004) are also available through this link. If you know of 
 people who would be interested in the Committee on Technology in 
 Government's activities, please feel free to forward this e-mail to 
 them.  If you know of anyone who would like to receive these e-mails, 
 just have them e-mail me.  I will put them on the list.  Finally, feel 
 free to post this information on any listserve you may belong to or on 
 any website you are affiliated with.  If you do not want to receive 
 these e-mails anymore, please e-mail me, and I will take you off the 
 list immediately.

     Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you at one of our hearings!

 Regards,
 Bruce Lai

 -- 
 Bruce Lai
 Chief of Staff
 Office of Council Member Gale A. Brewer
 New York City Council 
 250 Broadway, 17th Floor
 New York, NY 10007
 E-mail: bruce.lai@council.nyc.ny.us
 --
 PLEASE NOTE THE NEW PHONE NUMBERS
 --
 City Hall: 212.788.6975
 Cell: 347.563.1295
 Blackberry: bruce.lai@council.nyc.gov
 --
 District Office: 212.873.0282
 Fax: 212.513.7717