Last Friday, we had the first meeting of the Open Internet Advisory Committee (OIAC), called for by the FCC in the recent Open Internet Order. The members of the OIAC consist of a mix of folks from venture capital firms, ISPs, governance organizations, community organizations, and academics like myself. The OIAC’s mission is to “track and evaluate the effect of the FCC’s Open Internet rules, and to provide any recommendations it deems appropriate to the FCC regarding policies and practices related to preserving the open Internet.” The video of our kick-off meeting is online.
In addition to the full meeting of the OIAC, we broke into four working groups — on mobile broadband, economic impacts of Open Internet frameworks, specialized services, and transparency. I’m chairing the group looking at Mobile Broadband, a tremendously important area since wireless and cellular networks are rapidly becoming the dominant way users access the Internet. I’m looking forward to working with the rest of the working group, and the rest of the OIAC, to better understand how to ensure openness and transparency, while preserving the ability of service providers to manage their networks. One thing is certain — fun and interesting times lie ahead!
