The United Nations has its eyes on the Internet. A summit next month could lead to a telecommunications treaty granting a U.N. agency jurisdiction, and control, over the online universe. The issue is being furiously debated and lobbied in advance of the summit. Companies, technologists, free speech advocates, and national governments must now consider the relative merits of the current decentralized, U.S.-centered governance of the Internet, versus a more equitable, multinational (but possibly more restrictive) system.
Haven’t heard much about this looming fight that could radically alter the character of the Internet? It’s not too late. Join Future Tense on Thursday, Nov. 29, at 9 a.m. at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C. For more information and to RSVP, visit the New America website. If you can’t make it to Washington, follow the discussion with the hashtag #netgov and watch the event’s livestream.
Future Tense is a partnership of Arizona State University, the New America Foundation, and Slate.
Participants
Sunil Abraham (via Skype)—@sunil_abraham
Executive director, Centre for Internet and Society
Ellery Biddle—@ellerybiddle
Policy analyst, Center for Democracy and Technology
Jim Cicconi—@ATTPublicPolicy
Senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs, AT&T
Derrick Cogburn—@derrickcogburn
Associate professor of international relations, American University
Jonathan Koppell—@ASU
Dean of College of Public Programs, Arizona State University
Author, World Rule: Accountability, Legitimacy, and the Design of Global Governance
Rebecca MacKinnon—@rmack
Senior Fellow, New America Foundation
Author, Consent of the Networked
Sascha Meinrath—@saschameinrath
Vice president and director, Open Technology Institute, New America Foundation
Milton Mueller—@miltonmueller
Professor and director, Telecommunications Network Management Program, Syracuse University School of Information Studies
David Post—@templelaw
Professor of law, Temple University
Author, In Search of Jefferson’s Moose: Notes on the State of Cyberspace
Tim Wu—@superwuster
Future Tense fellow, New America Foundation
Author, The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall Information Empires
RSVP for the event (or bookmark the page for the livestream) at the New America Foundation’s website.
