Today Saturday January 31 2015 and tomorrow Sunday February 1 2015Major League Hacking presents HACKCON II in Brooklyn NY. HACKCON is a 2 day conference for current or aspiring student hackathon organizers. A live webcast is available via Livestream.
Today Wednesday January 28 2015 the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business presents Declaration of Independents: Not All Mergers Are Created Equal. The pending mergers of Comcast/TWC and AT&T/DIRECTV raise the issue of how such transactions impact the availability of independent programming not affiliated with any pay-TV distributor or broadcaster. This panel will explore how various mergers in the past and the ones pending today have or will impact independent programmers in the video space. Some outwardly oppose mergers, while others remain silent or even voice support for some large mergers, raising the question of whether all media mergers are crel:ated equal in the eyes of independent programmers. And, as more video moves to “over the top” online distribution, how will today’s mergers impact the availability of independent voices in the future? What effect do independent programming sources have on ethnic and other niche audiences? What about political viewpoints, news, and editorial content? Panel: Jonathan Adelstein, former FCC Commissioner and President & CEO, PCIA; Jon Liebowitz, Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell and former FTC Chairman (2009-2013); Robert McDowell, former FCC Commissioner and Partner, Wiley Rein LLP’s Communications Practice; Roy Myeringh, Senior Director, Business Development and Strategy, beIN SPORTS; Andrew Schwartzman, Benton Senior Counselor, Institute for Public Representation, Georgetown University Law Center; Michael Schwimmer, CEO, NuvoTV. Moderators: Bradley Blakeman, Adjunct Lecturer, Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies; David Goodfriend, Senior Industry and Innovation Fellow, Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy and Adjunct Lecturer, Georgetown University Law Center. The event will be webcast live.
On Sunday 25 January 2015, at 4pm the Internet Society’s New York Chapter(ISOC-NY) presented “Bitcoin for Rockstars – a fireside chat with D.A. Wallach” at TurnToTech NYC. The traditional existing methods of registering works and distributing music royalties are archaic, arcane, inefficient, and unsuited to the global networked marketplace. D.A. Wallach recently proposed that a decentralized, open, global ledger, based on bitcoin style blockchain technology, as an optimal solution for credits and rights information about music. Then a system of “smart contracts” could facilitate the distribution of funds. Thus:
In the proposed music rights network, each song, recording, rights-holder, creator, and payor would have its own unique address on the ledger. And complimenting this ledger would be “smart contracts,” programmatic rules defining how the addresses relate to each other and automating their interactions. For example, Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” would have its own address, as would Katy Perry herself, each of her collaborators, and each of the companies entitled to royalties from the song. One set of “smart contracts” could connect all of these addresses to one another.
Spotify, YouTube and other services could then issue all-in royalty micro-payments (aggregating all negotiated fees) directly to the “Dark Horse” address every time the song is played. The smart contracts connected to the “Dark Horse” address would recognize the source of the payment—say, Spotify—and then instantly split and redirect royalties to all the addresses entitled to payments from the service for the song. Katy Perry, her label, her publisher, and her collaborators would all have total visibility into payments received by the “Dark Horse” address, and each would receive its shares instantly in its own wallet. This software-based relay station for royalty and licensing payments would put creators at the center of the action, allowing them to understand how much money their works were generating, and from which services or licensees. It would also give artists and songwriters instant access to the funds generated by their work, obviating the long waiting periods they currently endure.
We invite you,to join D.A. Wallach and ISOC-NY to explore this fascinating concept! Our interlocutor was Aram Sinnreich of Rutgers University. author of the Piracy Crusade.
On Tuesday January 27 2015 the Internet Education Foundation(IEF) will host the 2015 State of the Net Conference at the Newseum in Washington DC. Among the many listed speakers are US CTO Megan Smith, FTC Chair Edith Ramirez, Assistant AG Leslie Caldwell, WH Director of Cybersecurity Ari Schwartz, Congressman Bob Goodlatte, the NTIA’s Larry Strickling, ICANN’s Theresa Swinehart, the NCUC’s Milton Mueller, ISOC’s Sally Wentworth, CDT’s Nuala O’Connor, the FCC’s Gigi Sohn, and her former PK colleague Harold Feld. As the 114th Congress kicks off, attendees include some 300 congressional staff and other policymakers. The Internet Society is sponsoring and providing the live webcast, which is priced at $99.
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to ensure Internet openness, to prohibit blocking lawful content and non-harmful devices, to prohibit throttling data, to prohibit paid prioritization, to require transparency of network management practices, to provide that broadband shall be considered to be an information service, and to prohibit the Commission or a State commission from relying on section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 as a grant of authority.
Video is below. Speaker indexes are available in the YouTube descriptions.
HOUSE HEARING:
View on Youtube: http://youtu.be/uP_dxvXzVwI Transcribe on AMARA: http://www.amara.org/en/videos/21PwAWRTWXm0/ Witnesses: Michael Powell – President and CEO, National Cable & Telecommunications Association; Chad Dickerson – CEO, Etsy; Paul Misener – Vice President of Global Public Policy, Amazon Inc; Jessica Gonzalez – Executive Vice President and General Counsel, National Hispanic Media Coalition; Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee – Vice President and Chief Research and Policy Officer, Minority Media & Telecom Council; Meredith Atwell Baker, President and CEO, CTIA-The Wireless Association
SENATE HEARING:
View on Youtube: http://youtu.be/vefwMem49KM Transcribe on AMARA: http://www.amara.org/en/videos/DwK4KMPgaQWf/ Witnesses: Meredith Attwell Baker – President and CEO, CTIA-The Wireless Association; Gene Kimmelman – President and CEO, Public Knowledge; Robert McDowell – Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute; Paul Misener – Vice President, Global Public Policy, Amazon Inc.; Tom Simmons – Senior Vice President of Public Policy, Midcontinent Communications; Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee – Vice President & Chief Research and Policy Officer, Minority Media & Telecommunications Council
Today Sunday, 18 January 2015 the Internet Society’s Deploy 360 Program and Sri Lanka Chapter will present ION Sri Lanka as part of SANOG 25, taking place from 16-24 January 2015 in Kandy, Sri Lanka. ION Conferences bring network engineers and leading industry experts together to discuss emerging technologies including IPv6, DNSSEC, and Securing BGP, and TLS for Applications. Early adopters provide valuable insight into their own deployment experiences and bring participants up to speed on new standards emerging from the IETF. There will be morning and afternoon session, and both will be webcast live via YouTube.
On January 9 2015 the United States Library of Congress presented Magna Carta: Rule of Law in the Contemporary World – Civil Liberties & Surveillance. As a part of a symposium on the enduring legacy of Magna Carta – currently on show in Washington DC -an expert panel discussed rule of law as it relates to contemporary issues surrounding civil liberties and surveillance. Speakers: Orin Kerr, Fred C. Stevenson Research Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School; Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisconsin), a member of the House Committee on the Judiciary, chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations; Congressman Jerrold L. Nadler (D-New York), member of the House Committee on the Judiciary and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
On January 13, 2014 the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University presented a talk – The Great Firewall Inverts – saying:
The world is witnessing a massive expansion of Chinese telecommunications reach and influence, powered entirely by users choosing to participate in it. In Usage of the mobile messaging app WeChat (微信 Weixin), for example, has skyrocketed not only inside China, but outside, as well. Due to these systems being built upon proprietary protocols and software, their inner workings are largely opaque and mostly insecure. (WeChat has full permission to activate microphones and cameras, track GPS, access user contacts and photos, and copy all of this data at any time to their servers.)
In this talk, Nathan Freitas — Berkman Fellow, director of technology strategy and training at the Tibet Action Institute. and leader of the Guardian Project — questions the risks to privacy and security foreign users engage in when adopting apps from Chinese companies. Do the Chinese companies behind these services have any market incentive or legal obligation to protect the privacy of their non-Chinese global userbase? Do they willingly or automatically turn over all data to the Ministry of Public Security or State Internet Information Office? Will we soon see foreign users targeted or prosecuted due to “private” data shared on WeChat? And is there any fundamental difference in the impact on privacy freedom for an American citizen using WeChat versus a Chinese citizen using WhatsApp or Google?
Today Wednesday January 14 2014 from 5-6pm EST the inaugural Community and Technology program broadcasts from 90.3FM, WHCR Harlem Community Radio at the City College of New York. Co-produced by ISOC-NY’s own Dave Burstein, the program will run fortnightly and cover technology issues from a global perspective. Both audio and video feeds are available online:
Today Wednesday 14 January 2015, ancillary to the intersessional meeting of the Non-Contracted Parties House (NCPH) of the Generic Names Standing Organization (GNSO) at ICANN, the NonCommercial Users Constituency (NCUC) will hold an outreach meeting with Internet Governance interested people at the Center for Democracy and Technnology (CDT)in Washington DC. On the agenda, the IANA transition, accountability mechanisms in the context of globalization, human rights in internet governance, privacy and registry services, access to knowledge and intellectual property, freedom of expression and development, and ICANN in broader Internet governance, including NETmundial Initiative and the Internet Governance Forum. The meeting is by invitation only, but remote participation is possible via webex or phone bridge.
1. Participant Introductions
2. Brief introduction of NCUC @ ICANN
3. 2-3 minute introductions of issues NCUC works on in ICANN, e.g.
• IANA and the transitioning of US authority (Matt Shears)
• Accountability mechanisms in the context of globalization (Matt Shears)
• Human rights generally (Bill Drake)
• Privacy and registry services (Stephanie Perrin)
• Access to knowledge and intellectual property (Kathy Kleiman)
• Freedom of expression (David Cake)
• Development (Rafik Dammak)
• ICANN in broader Internet governance, e.g. NETmundial Initiative, IGF (Bill Drake)
4. Inputs from local participants on how these and related issues are being addressed in Washington DC and beyond
5. Open integrative discussion
Today Saturday January 31 2015 and tomorrow Sunday February 1 2015 Major League Hacking presents HACKCON II in Brooklyn NY. HACKCON is a 2 day conference for current or aspiring student hackathon organizers. A live webcast is available via Livestream.
Today Sunday, 18 January 2015 the Internet Society’s 
On January 13, 2014 the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University presented a talk – 
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