[Ecommerce] Feb 10: Let there be Wi-Fi event in DC

[Manon Ress]

Friday, February 10, 2006
Program: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Light refreshments will be provided.
Admission is free.
Center for American Progress
1333 H Street NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20005


The Center for American Progress & Free Press invite you to a special
presentation:

Let There Be Wi-Fi: Community Broadband and the Future of the Internet

Featuring:

Jim Baller, Founder, Baller Herbst Law Group
Mayor William H. Graham, Scottsburg, Indiana
Greg Richardson, Founder and Managing Partner, Civitium LLC

Moderated by:

Ben Scott, Policy Director, Free Press

Introduction by:

Mark Lloyd, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress

Most people know =93broadband=94 as an alternative to their old, slow
dial-up Internet connection. But in terms of powering economies,
broadband could be the 21st century equivalent of electricity.
Broadband is about much more than checking your e-mail or browsing on
eBay. In the near future, telephone, television, radio and the Web
all will be delivered to your home via a single broadband connection.
In the not-so-distant future, broadband will be an indispensable part
of economic, personal, and public life. The countries that achieve
universal broadband are going to hold significant advantages over
those that don't. And so far, the United States is poised to be a
follower=97not a leader=97in the broadband economy.

Despite fierce opposition from telecom companies and their political
allies, some municipalities are finding ways to provide broadband to
their residents. Community Internet projects are already up and
running in dozens of small towns like Scottsburg, Indiana, and are
coming soon to bigger cities like Philadelphia, Portland, and
Minneapolis. These cities recognize broadband as perhaps the single
most important factor in transforming their local economies and the
lives of average citizens. Community Internet could revolutionize and
democratize communications in this country. But the major obstacle to
universal, affordable broadband access for all Americans is not
economic or technical. It's political.

Please join us for a discussion on the importance of a universal,
affordable broadband access for bridging the digital divide and
helping to drive American economic competitiveness in the 21st century.

Friday, February 10, 2006
Program: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Light refreshments will be provided.
Admission is free.

Center for American Progress
1333 H Street NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20005
Map and Directions

Nearest Metro: Blue/Orange: McPherson Square, Red: Metro Center

Click here to RSVP
or call (202) 741-6246

Biographies:

Jim Baller is the founder of the Baller Herbst Law Group, a national
law firm based in Washington and Minneapolis. He is a leading expert
on Community Internet, representing local governments and public
power utilities in matters involving telecommunications, Internet
access, and barriers to the public-sector entry into communications.
His clients include the American Public Power Association (APPA), the
National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors
(NATOA), regional and state utility associations and municipal
leagues, and numerous individual local governments and public power
utilities in more than 35 states. Mr. Baller is a frequent speaker
and author on communications matters and a graduate of Dartmouth
College and Cornell Law School.

William H. Graham has been Mayor of the City of Scottsburg since
1988. When he took office, the city had one of the highest
unemployment rates in the state and was on the decline. He has been
instrumental in attracting new businesses and keeping old ones, in
large part due to his aggressive communications planning. When the
telecommunications and cable companies of the state were unwilling to
offer broadband to his residents, Mayor Graham started a city
broadband utility. He managed to retain the employers who threatened
to leave if they were forced to stick with dial-up Internet access,
and with them, increased the jobs and commerce of his city.

Greg Richardson is the Founder and Managing Partner for Civitium LLC.
Civitium is the market-leading management and technology consulting
firm for municipal governments and institutions that are applying
wireless technology as the foundation for Digital Communities.
Civitium serves as the lead advisor for many of the most high-profile
Digital Community initiatives in the world, including Philadelphia,
San Francisco and Houston. Prior to founding Civitium, he served as
the Director of Wireless Consulting for Siemens in the United States.

Ben Scott is Policy Director of Free Press. He heads up the
Washington, D.C. office, dedicated to monitoring and analyzing media
policymaking to increase public awareness and participation. Before
joining Free Press, he worked as a legislative fellow handling
telecommunications policy for Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the U.S.
House of Representatives. He is also in the final stages of his
doctoral degree in communications from the University of Illinois. He
is the author of several scholarly articles on American journalism
history and the politics of media regulation as well as co-editor of
two books, Our Unfree Press (The New Press, 2004) and The Future of
Media (Seven Stories, 2005).

Mark Lloyd is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress
focusing on communications policy issues, including universal
service, advanced telecommunications deployment, media concentration
and diversity. From the fall of 2002 until the summer of 2004, Mr.
Lloyd was a Martin Luther King, Jr. Visiting Scholar at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he taught communications
policy and wrote and conducted research on the relationship between
communications policy and strong democratic communities. He also
served as the Executive Director of the Civil Rights Forum on
Communications Policy, a non-profit, non-partisan project he co-
founded in 1997 to bring civil rights principles and advocacy to the
communications policy debate. He also has nearly 20 years of
experience as a print and broadcast journalist, including work as a
reporter and producer at NBC and CNN, and is the recipient of several
awards including an Emmy and a Cine Golden Eagle. He has served on
the boards of directors of dozens of national and local
organizations, including the Independent Television Service, OMB
Watch, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and the Leadership
Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund. He has also served as a
consultant to the Clinton White House, the John D. and Catherine T.
MacArthur Foundation, the Open Society Institute and the Smithsonian
Institution. He received his undergraduate degree from the University
of Michigan and his law degree from the Georgetown University Law
Center.

---

The Center for American Progress is a nonpartisan research and
educational institute dedicated to promoting a strong, just and free
America that ensures opportunity for all. We believe that Americans
are bound together by a common commitment to these values and we
aspire to ensure that our national policies reflect these values. We
work to find progressive and pragmatic solutions to significant
domestic and international problems and develop policy proposals that
foster a government that is "of the people, by the people, and for
the people."

Free Press is a national organization working to increase informed
public participation in crucial media policy debates. The ultimate
aim of Free Press is to generate a range of policies that will
produce a more competitive and democratic media system with a strong
nonprofit and noncommercial sector. For more information on the
promise of Community Internet, please visit www.freepress.net/
communityinternet .




************************************************
Manon Anne Ress
manon.ress@cptech.org,
www.cptech.org

Consumer Project on Technology
1621 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20009 USA
Tel.:  +1.202.332.2670, Ext 16 Fax: +1.202.332.2673

Consumer Project on Technology
1 Route des  Morillons, CP 2100, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 791 6727

Consumer Project on Technology
24 Highbury Crescent, London, N5 1RX, UK
Tel: +44(0)207 226 6663 ex 252 Fax: +44(0)207 354 0607