Higher Standards

Mar

29

2009

I’ve posted my draft paper, Higher Standards: Regulation in the Network Age (Harvard Journal of Law & Technology, forthcoming 2009) to the SSRN online repository.  Here’s the abstract: As digital networks proliferate, standardized interfaces will define the economic and normative dynamics of markets. In other words, standardization is regulation. Regulatory mechanisms must evolve to emulate the best aspects of the standard-setting process. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should remake itself ...
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See me at F2C on March 31

Mar

25

2009

I’m speaking Tuesday at David Isenberg’s always-provocative Freedom to Connect conference, held just outside Washington DC in Silver Spring, MD. Check it out if you can. David was a pioneer in explaining how the Net challenges telecom. His conference is an exciting gathering of reformers and radicals. I’ll be talking with renowned journalist Dan Gillmor about my experience on the Obama Transition Team, and discussing the tech policy prospects for ...
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Thought of the day

Mar

10

2009

The difference between Twitter and ICQ epitomizes what’s new about the Net today. ICQ (a meteoric startup success story) was a messaging backplane that thought it was a software application. Twitter is a messaging backplane that thinks it’s a social data store. Power to the cloud!
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Knowledge@Wharton on the economics of free

Mar

6

2009

I’m quoted in a Knowledge@Wharton article about “free” business models.  This is stuff that Chris Anderson of Wired has covered in depth in his recent book, so I’m not sure we added much.  The piece ends with a quote from me: “The problem is in thinking the business model of your industry is ordained forever,” says Werbach. “Business isn’t static, and it’s less static today than it’s ever been. The ...
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FCC finally gets a new chief

Mar

3

2009

President Obama officially nominated Julius Genachowski today to be the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.  This won’t be a surprise to anyone following telecom policy, but it’s great that the nomination finally made it through the process. I had the pleasure of working with Julius during the Transition, and before that on the Obama campaign and at the FCC during the Clinton Administration.  He’s spoken twice at Supernova.  He’s ...
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