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21 Sep 2016

Introducing The Snowden Effect Series

The Internet Education Foundation invites you to…

In June 2013 former NSA contractor Edward Snowden set in motion a torrent of revelations of the NSA’s electronic surveillance capabilities and practices. Through 2013, news outlets and social media poured out wave after wave of articles detailing classified government programs with names like PRISM, MonsterMind, Bulk Collection, and Boundless Informant. The scope of the programs revealed was breathtaking. Internet companies and other world leaders publicly expressed outrage when documents showed that private communications had been compromised. This had immediate ripple effects in business, government, and our national security.

Three years later we’re gathering a slew of experts to reflect upon the effects of those revelations — the Snowden Effects.

The revelations have lead to a repositioning of global partnerships, a deeper conversation about the role of government, a thorough reexamination at our fundamental rights, liberties and principles, and a sober realization that the world may not be as safe a place as we would like it to be.

This 3-part series — presented by the Internet Education Foundation (IEF) — focuses on the resultant changes put in motion by Edward Snowden’s revelations — rather than the man himself. The “Snowden Effect” series shines a light on three distinct but inter-related areas: government surveillance reform, de-cloudification and data localization, and commercial trust and transparency. Our cross-IEF event series will be presented under three of our main programs, the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee, the Internet Law and Policy Foundry and the State of the Net Series.

Join us on September 27th, at the Microsoft Innovation & Policy Center for What Nationality is Your Data?, our first event, set under the banner of State of the Net. We will announce our panelists shortly.

Our second event, The Changing Landscape of Subpoenas, Transparency and Trust, co-hosted with the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute, will be held in mid-October at a date to be announced shortly. Finally, our third event, The Future of Surveillance Laws, One Year After USA FREEDOM, will take place on October 28th in the Rayburn House Office Building.

Date: Tuesday, September 27th, 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
Location: Microsoft Innovation & Policy Center, 901 K Street, 11th Floor, Washington, DC 20001
Register: Via Eventbrite here.
Website: www.neted.org/snowden.html
Follow: @SOTN | #SnowdenEffect

The Internet Education Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization supported by public interest groups, corporations, and associations representative of the diversity of the Internet community. The mission of the IEF is to assure informed policymaking on Internet-related issues within both government and the private sector, promote the Internet as a valuable medium for democratic participation, communications, and commerce, and educate the public about the challenges and problems presented by the Internet medium and offer potential solutions.

14 Jun 2016

Congressional Internet Caucus Co-Chairs Announce 2016 Student Coding Challenge

2016 CONGRESSIONAL APP CHALLENGE CO-CHAIRS ANNOUNCED
Representatives Royce and Moulton will spearhead student coding contest

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Congressional Internet Caucus and the Internet Education Foundation announced the new Congressional Co-Chairs for the 2016 Congressional App Challenge (CAC), U.S. Representatives Ed Royce (R-CA) and Seth Moulton (D-MA):

“As Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and a representative from the world’s innovation capital, I know how important a STEM proficient workforce is to the United States remaining an economic powerhouse. I encourage all of my colleagues to participate in the Congressional App Challenge, an excellent opportunity to recognize talented young people learning the skills being used to build the future,” said U.S. Representative Ed Royce (R-CA).

“We are currently on track to reach a million unfilled programming jobs by 2020. These jobs and skills are crucial to the innovation economy,” said Congressman Seth Moulton (D-MA). “I’m excited to serve as co-chair of the Congressional App Challenge with Rep. Ed Royce to encourage students across the country to learn how to code. This challenge is a nationwide effort to open up those opportunities to students in every community, and I look forward to seeing what they create.”

The 2016 CAC will take place from July 18 – November 2, 2016. Officially in its second year, the Congressional App Challenge is a bipartisan congressional initiative to improve student engagement in coding and computer science. Particular efforts are made to engage those students from groups and regions that are underrepresented in the tech community. Students can create their apps on any platform, working alone or in teams of up to four. Winning apps are selected by local judges, and the student winners will be honored by their Congressional representatives and have their apps put on display in the Capitol Building.

In 2015, over 1700 high school students from 32 states signed up to compete. The students submitted nearly 500 original apps, with 116 Congressional districts hosting successful local challenges. The House of Representatives displays the winning apps online at:http://www.house.gov/content/educate/app_challenge/.

The Congressional App Challenge is coordinated by the Internet Education Foundation and sponsored by Capital One, Intel, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services. Challenge efforts are guided by our esteemed Advisory Board, which includes Kimberly Snipes, Vice President of Consumer Products and Operations, Capital One; Monique Morrow, Chief Technology Officer, Cisco Systems; Jose Antonio Tijerino, President and CEO, Hispanic Heritage Foundation; Kathy DeerInWater, Director of Strategic Initiatives and Research, American Indian Science and Engineering Society; Emmeline Cardozo, Associate Director of Partner Engagement, Girls Who Code; and Mark Nelson, Executive Director, Computer Science Teachers Association.

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Representative Royce serves California’s 39th Congressional District, which encompasses parts of Los Angeles, Orange, and San Bernardino counties. He is Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee.

Representative Moulton serves Massachusetts’ 6th Congressional District. He served four tours in Iraq as a Marine Corps infantry officer and was elected to Congress in 2014. He serves on the House Armed Services Committee, the House Budget Committee and the House Small Business Committee.

If you are interested in supporting the 2016 Congressional App Challenge, please contact CAC Executive Director Rhianon Anderson at [email protected].

MEDIA RELEASE

Contact: Rhianon Anderson, (650) 302-1799
[email protected]
Executive Director, Congressional App Challenge
www.CongressionalAppChallenge.us

June 6, 2016

9 Feb 2016

Safer Internet Day!

Today is Safer Internet Day, a day hosted by Connect Safely and celebrated around the world to advocate for building a safer internet for users of all ages. Awareness of internet activity, privacy, and use is important year round, but for one day we ask you to get involved, focus on good-deeds, and lead young people in our theme of “playing your part for a better Internet”. Connecting people and practicing safer and responsible online action can help grow a better community. By expressing kindness and positivity, together we can increase our visibility and impact people around the world.

Our challenge for you is to do at least one Good Thing on the internet today.

Think of a Good Thing (big or small) that makes the Internet a better place or the world a better place using the Internet.
Share your one Good Thing online with the hashtag #SIDUS16 to increase good things around the world.

Join all of us in celebrating Safer Internet Day to create efforts, big and small, and make the Internet a better place and the world a better place using the Internet and connected media!

10 Nov 2015

Internet Caucus Members Lead Congressional App Challenge

2015 CONGRESSIONAL APP CHALLENGE LAUNCHES TODAY

Congress Moves To Foster Youth Computer Science Skills, District by District

For Immediate Release
November 9, 2015

WASHINGTON, DC – The Congressional App Challenge, a congressional initiative to improve student engagement in coding and computer science, is launching today and will run through January 15, 2016.

Representatives Mimi Walters and Hakeem Jeffries co-chair the 2015 Congressional App Challenge (CAC). Over a quarter of the House of Representatives have signed up to host student app contests in their districts. Currently, 116 Representatives from 37 states have signed up, and more are expected to do so in the coming days.

During the next 10 weeks, high school students in participating Congressional districts will create and submit their own original “apps” that will be judged by panels of local judges. The Judging Period will last from January 16 to February 12, 2016 and the Members of Congress will announce the winners on February 22, 2016. Winners will be honored by their Member of Congress and have their apps featured on a display in the Capitol building.

In 2014, students from 84 districts submitted apps in their local contests; this year, we aim to expand upon that success by doubling the number of submissions. Recognizing the racial, gendered, and other disparities in the tech sector, the CAC will also emphasize inclusivity. Deliberate efforts will be made to include students from all backgrounds, including those traditionally underrepresented in the tech community.

The CAC was created by the U.S. House of Representatives to engage U.S. high school student in coding and computer science. The CAC was created because Congress recognizes how essential computer science and STEM skills are for economic growth and innovation, and that the U.S. is currently experiencing a dearth of adequately trained technical talent. According to some estimates, the U.S. may be short as many as 3 million high-skilled workers by 2018. The CAC is a congressional effort to maintain American competitiveness, by proactively inspiring our youth and encouraging them to pursue these crucial STEM-based skills.

The 2015 CAC is only possible thanks to the leadership of the House of Representatives over the last several years. Specifically, Committee on House Administration Chairwoman Candice Miller and Ranking Member Robert Brady worked hard to authorize the CAC and Representatives Bob Goodlatte and Anna G. Eshoo, co-chairs of the Congressional Internet Caucus, requested the creation of the CAC (the also served as its inaugural co-chairs in 2014). Of course, this year Representatives Mimi Walters and Hakeem Jeffries are serving as the CAC co-chairs.

For further information about the Congressional App Challenge, please visit CongressionalAppChallenge.us. If you are interested getting more involved or in supporting the Congressional App Challenge, please contact Rhianon Anderson at [email protected].

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MEDIA RELEASE

Contact: Rhianon Anderson, (202) 638-4370
[email protected]
Internet Education Foundation
www.congressionalappchallenge.org

29 Apr 2015

#CryptoConvo Audio Podcast and Video Now Available

Video and audio podcast from our March 12 #CryptoConvo panel discussion are now available. Watch the video on our YouTube Channel and stream audio on our website or your favorite podcast service. You can also subscribe to the ICAC iTunes podcast channel for all of our policy panel discussions.

Thank you to the Internet Society for providing the video recording and to our panelists and all in attendance for the event!

3 Apr 2014

Next Briefing: The U.S. Government Relinquishes Last Vestige of Internet Control: That’s A Good Thing, Right?

On a Friday in March the Obama Administration announced that it would relinquish its last vestige of control over the technical functions of the Internet. The Department of Commerce’s NTIA said that it will not renew its contract with ICANN to run key domain-name functions. The NTIA had been methodically shedding its control over domain functions for years. Yet, this final action of absolvement comes at a particularly volatile time for Internet governance.

Later this April the Brazilian government, incensed over the NSA surveillance revelations, plans to convene stakeholders in designed to explore “Future of Internet Governance” and to design a new model for Internet governance. While Internet Caucus Co-Chairs Senator John Thune and Representative Anna G. Eshoo each expressed support for an open, multistakeholder model for running the Internet many policy leaders in Congress are watching closely. There is concern that now that the U.S. has given up Internet control other governments will seek to usurp control over the Internet. We have assembled a a panel of experts who will discuss what this Brazilian Internet governance reboot means, what can be gained, and what might be lost .

Date: Friday, April 11, 2014

Time: 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm (boxed lunch will be served starting at 11:30 pm)

Location: Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2226

Attend: Register via EventBrite here

Follow on Twitter: @NetCaucusAC #NetGovIC

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Speakers:

Fiona Alexander, Associate Administrator, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) (Bio)
Steve DelBianco, NetChoice (Bio)
Tom Giovanetti, Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) (Bio)
Jamie Hedlund, VP Reviews, ICANN (Bio)

Note: More speakers will be announced on a rolling basis.

Past Briefings on This Subject:
Will the Brazilian Reboot Turn the Internet into a BRIC? January 28, 2014 [Audio]

Influencing ICANN: What Role Will World Governments Have Over Internet Domain Functions? March 21, 2011 [Audio]

The Future of the U.S. Government’s Role in ICANN, Internet Addressing and Internet Governance, October 1, 2009 [Audio]

Global Internet Governance: Should there be an enhanced role for the U.N.?, September 12, 2005 [Audio]

This widely attended educational briefing is hosted by the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee (ICAC), part of a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization. Congressional staff and members of the press welcome. The ICAC is a private sector organization comprised of public interest groups, trade associations, non-profits, and corporations. The ICAC takes no positions on legislation or regulation. Rather, it’s a neutral platform where thought leaders debate important technology issues that shape legislative and administration policy in an open forum. We vigilantly adhere to our mission to curate balanced and dynamic debates among Internet stakeholders. Our volunteer board members ensure that we dutifully execute that mission. More information on the ICAC is available at www.netcaucus.org.

25 Nov 2013

Summary of 2013’s Program: One of the Most Successful in the History of the ICAC

Dear Members of the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee),

We’re getting close to the end of our programmatic year and we have just a few more Internet Caucus AC briefings remaining. Once we host our Spectrum briefing and our FCC Open Internet Decision briefing (assuming the court rules in 2013) we will have capped off one of the most productive and influential educational years in the 17 years since the Congressional Internet Caucus was created to help assure sound Internet policymaking.

We have detailed below the remarkable breadth of Internet policy briefings and events hosted by the NetCaucus AC in 2013. We thank those of you who have lent your time, expertise and (to some) who lent much needed financial support to this important Internet policy program. If your organization has year-end funds please consider becoming a supporter of this indispensable program.

Thank you for a fantastic 2013. Looking forward to working with you all to make 2014 even better.

2013 Highlights:

* In 2013 we will have hosted a record number Congressional briefings on Net policy in the Capitol complex (despite a government shutdown!),
* A whopping 40% of our briefings were telecast on the CSPAN network, radically expanding our audience,
* A record number of Congressional staff attended ICAC briefings,
* We inspired the House of Representatives to embrace STEM by creating legislation and regulations for the first ever youth Congressional App Challenge (expected launch Feb 2014),
* The NetCaucusAC and the State of the Net transitioned to new, more powerful website platforms (respectively),
* Launched a pilot project to coordinate educational programs on Internet Ecosystem Economics,
* And we threw a 20th anniversary party for the World Wide Web!
* See the full list of program below …

2013 Summary of Program

Remaining 2013 Events

Spectrum Briefing
Fri. December 13, 2013
Details TBD – Rayburn HOB
Overview

The FCC’s Open Internet Order Decision Briefing
Details TBD Upon Court Decision

Past 2013 Events

The New European Data Privacy Regulation and What It Means for Global Privacy and the Internet Industry: A Presentation From European Commission Officials
November 19, 2013 – Rayburn HOB
Overview

Are the Kids Alright? Assessing the Impact of 20 Years of the Internet on America’s Youth
Fri., October 25, 2013 – Rayburn HOB, 2237
Overview

The NSA Internet Surveillance System: Who Has Oversight and How Transparent is the Program?
12:00 to 1:00 PM, Fri., October 25, 2013 – Rayburn HOB, 2226
Overview

Buying Your Next Plane Ticket Online: How Can the Internet Make Travel More Efficient?
Wed., Aug 28, 2013 – Rayburn HOB, 2226
Overview | Video | Audio

Privacy, the NSA, and Your Constituents’ Phone and Internet Records: An Experts’ Primer on the Law, the Technology and the History.
Fri., June 21, 2013 – Rayburn HOB, 2237
Overview | Video | Audio

Faceoff: A Fact-Based Debate on U.S. Internet Policy and Access Networks
Fri., June 7, 2013 – Capitol Visitors Center, Room SVC 203-02
Overview | Audio

Patent Litigation Strangling High Tech? Congress?
Thurs., May 30, 2013 – Rayburn HOB, 2226
Overview | Audio

Enabling Do Not Track Privacy: Is It Dead or Alive?
Fri., May 24, 2013 – Rayburn HOB, B-339
Overview | Video | Audio

The World Wide Web 20th Anniversary Cocktail Reception
Thurs., May 9, 2013 – Sewall-Belmont House & Museum
Overview

Collecting Online Sales Taxes: Should Congress Weigh In?
Thursday, Mar. 21, 2013 – Rayburn HOB, Room 2237
Overview | Audio

Cyber Security After the White House Executive Order: Will Congress Make the Next Move?
Friday., Mar. 15, 2013 – Rayburn HOB, B-339
Overview | Audio

Combating Piracy Online: The Copyright Alert System, A Voluntary Approach
Friday., Mar. 8, 2013 – Rayburn HOB, Room 2168
Overview | Video

State of the Net / Mobile Net Events

State of the Mobile Net
May 9, 2013

Keynotes
– The Honorable Jason Chaffetz, Member, U.S. House of Representatives Video
– The Honorable Hank Johnson, Member, U.S. House of Representatives Video

Mobile Location: The Policies of Where,
May 9, 2013
Overview | Video

The “State” of Mobile Privacy: Should It Be Treated Differently?,
May 9, 2013
Overview | Video

Mitigating the Mobile Broadband Squeeze: Creative Approaches to Avoiding a Bandwidth Catastrophe,
May 9, 2013

Overview | Video

State of the Net Conference Events
January22/23, 2013

Keynotes:
– The Honorable Anna G. Eshoo, (CA-18), Co-Chair, Congressional Internet Caucus VIDEO
– The Honorable Jerry Moran, (KS) VIDEO
– Victoria A. Espinel, U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, The White House VIDEO
– Nicol Turner-Lee, President and CEO, National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications VIDEO
– Fred Humphries, Vice President of U.S. Government Affairs, Microsoft VIDEO

Plumbing the Policy Implications of Data Analytics and Defining “Big Data,” the Year’s Most Overused Term
January 22, 2013
Overview| AUDIO

Should Congress Rewrite the Telecom Act?
January 22, 2013
Overview | AUDIO

Congress as NetMusic’s DJ: Is It Spinning the Turntables in the Right Direction for Innovation and Creativity?
January 22, 2013
Overview | AUDIO

Luncheon Keynote Discussion:VIDEO
– Travis Kalanick, CEO and Co-Founder – UBER with
– The Honorable Bob Goodlatte, (VA-6), Co-Chair, Congressional Internet Caucus

Post-Petraeus: Privacy, Passion, Probable Cause?
January 22, 2013
Overview | AUDIO

Big Broadband: What Happens When the Psychology of Abundance Confronts Both the Economics of Deployment and the Rules of Regulators?
January 22, 2013
Overview | AUDIO

First Sale and No Resale: Could SCOTUS and the Internet Redefine Content Ownership?
January 22, 2013
Overview | AUDIO

Cyber Security Legislation, Regulation and Executive Order: Government Officials Discuss
January 22, 2013
Overview

No Rest for the WCIT: Charting An Affirmative Plan to Safeguarding Internet Freedom!
January 22, 2013
Overview | AUDIO

Demystifying the Cloud: What Adopters and Policymakers Need to Know
January 22, 2013
Overview | AUDIO

The Internet Leadership Challenge: Restoring America to Economic Greatness Through Sound Internet Policy
January 23, 2013
Overview

Keynotes

– The Honorable Steve Scalise, U.S. House of Representatives (LA-1) & Chairman, Republican Study Committee VIDEO
– Blair Levin, Communications & Society Fellow – Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program “The Politics of Abundance” VIDEO
– Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform VIDEO

5 Nov 2013

Internet Governance Expert Milton Mueller Drives Discussions at State of the Net

Today the Internet Education Foundation announced that Internet governance expert and Syracuse University professor Milton L. Mueller has been selected to serve as a Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee Fellow. Mueller is a professor at the Syracuse University School of Information Studies where his research and teaching explores the political economy of communication and information. For the past 15 years his research, teaching and public service have concentrated on problems related to global Internet governance. Mueller is an acclaimed author and is a founding academic of the Internet Governance Project.

As an Internet Caucus Advisory Committee fellow Mueller will apply his vast knowledge of Internet governance, global free expression and international multistakeholderism to facilitate several debates at the State of the Net Conference in January 2014. The State of the Net is the largest Internet policy conference in the United States and features discussions and debates on key Internet policy issues. The Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee is neither a trade association nor an industry advocacy group. It blends all Internet stakeholders (academics, consumer groups, industry, think tanks) together with government stakeholders around the common cause of assuring informed Internet policymaking. The program demands only that stakeholders debate Internet policy issues seriously and in good faith while always putting the health of the Internet first and foremost.

Given our mission to broker honest and intelligent debates on critical Internet policy issues Professor Mueller is a perfect fit to help drive those discussions.

Professor Mueller will be working through the fall to organize the discussions and stakeholders for the State of the Net Conference in January. Registration is now open and an agenda will be posted shortly.

For additional inquiries, please contact Tim Lordan at [email protected].

30 Oct 2013

Announcing State of the Net — January 28, 2014

Join us for the 10th Annual State of the Net Conference, the largest Internet policy conference in the nation, taking place on Tuesday, January 28, 2014. We have relocated the conference to a new location, The Newseum — just blocks from the Capitol. The 2014 State of the Net will focus on the enormous Internet policy challenges facing the next session of Congress, the Obama Administration, and the Internet community. SOTN frames the issues going forward throughout the year. With over 50 percent of attendees from the government sector SOTN is the most influential conference in Internet policy. Attendees can expect to see keynotes from leaders in the Senate, the House, the Administration, and prominent industry leaders. Previous speakers have included Travis Kalanick (CEO, UBER), Vint Cerf (Google), Brian L. Roberts (Chariman/CEO, Comcast), and more. Registration is now open to friends and collegues of the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee (Ticket quantity is limited). We encourage you to visit the State of the Net website for a glimpse of the 2014 conference agenda and to reserve your spot at the most important Internet policy gathering of the year.

2014 promises to be an exciting year for Internet policymaking. Topics may include:

The newly comprised Federal Communications Commission
The Open Internet Order court decision
Rewriting TV video rules for the Internet age
Revising or rewriting copyright law
NSA electronic surveillance
Collecting Internet sales taxes
Challenges to ISP intermediary liability
Commercial privacy legislation including Do Not Track / Intl Data Flows / Data Brokers
Securing the cyber infrastructure
Internet innovation and economics
Mobile / virtual payment systems
Global Internet governance, and many more …

Register Now! Early bird ticket specials for friends and colleagues of the ICAC.

To get a sense of the conference check out videos and the agenda (PDF) from 2013’s State of the Net.

State of the Net

hosted by the Internet Education Foundation
1634 I Street NW – Suite 1100 – Washington, DC 20006
www.Stateofthe.Net
Find us on Twitter

13 May 2013

Advisory Commitee Forms New Internet Caucus Task Force on Internet Ecosystem Economics

Verizon’s David Young and Public Knowledge’s John Bergmayer to Co-Chair the Task Force with Initial Push on “The Economics of Broadband Access Networks”

The Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee (ICAC) launched a new educational effort to bring a better economic understanding of the Internet ecosystem as it relates to Internet policy. The task force will be chaired jointly by David Young (Verizon) and John Bergmayer (Public Knowledge) who will bring balance and experience to this important endeavor.

We care deeply about the future of the Internet and it is critical that lawmakers and the congressional staff advising them make informed decisions. This “Internet Ecosystem Economics Task Force” will lay down a solid base of economic understanding so that lawmakers can make good decisions in major areas such as the Open Internet, Internet TV, peering, compulsory licensing, competition policy, spectrum policy, and many more. The Task Force will vigilantly adhere to our mission to curate balanced and dynamic debates among Internet stakeholders. Our volunteer board of directors will ensure that the task force dutifully executes that mission. In fact, the architecture of the board reflects our balanced mission.

The Task Force will begin by planning a congressional staff briefing on “The Economics of Broadband Access Networks” in the coming weeks. The chairs will develop a sound factual “economic understanding of broadband access networks, competition in the market, and how the broadband industry compares globally.” The briefing will include a balanced set of speakers reflecting diverse economic theories in collegial debate — which is the hallmark of the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory program.

We hope this will be the first in a series of excellent programming from these task force chairs. We will share the briefing description and a suggested slate of debaters in the coming days.

About the Internet Caucus Advisory Committee

The Advisory Committee to the Internet Caucus is a diverse group of public interest, non-profit and industry groups working to educate the Congress and the public about important Internet-related policy issues. With participation from Members of the Caucus and logistical support from the Internet Education Foundation, the Advisory Committee hosts regular forums to discuss important Internet-related policy issues. Since its founding, the Advisory Committee has built a membership of over 190 organizations from a broad cross-section of the public interest community and the Internet industry. Additional information, including an updated membership list, is available at https://www.netcaucus.org.

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