net neutrality

17 Dec 2017

DISNEY BUYS MURDOCH by A. Michael Noll

0
DISNEY BUYS MURDOCH A. Michael Noll December 16, 2017 © Copyright 2017 AMN Walt Disney is purchasing Murdoch’s entertainment empire for over $50 billion. Is this a great deal – or a huge challenge for the future of Disney? The vision is a future in which video entertainment (and sports) is downloaded over the Internet directly from the source, bypassing the middle distributors, such as the cable TV company, the satellite company, or the phone company. This vision has been known as cable bypass. But it assumes an Internet that is “free.” Disney, and its Bob Eger, should be frightened […]
CONTINUE READING
19 Aug 2017

Quello Center Presentations for TPRC 2017

0
Faculty and staff of the Quello Center will be actively engaged in this year’s Telecommunication Policy Research Conference (TPRC). The following papers on the schedule for the 45th TPRC Research Conference on Communications, Information, and Internet Policy, at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia: “Social Shaping of the Politics of Internet Search and Networking: Moving Beyond Filter Bubbles, Echo Chambers, and Fake News,” by William H. Dutton and Bianca C. Reisdorf (presenter), Quello Center, Michigan State University; Elizabeth Dubois, Department of Communication, University of Ottawa; and Grant Blank, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford. “Race and Digital Inequality: Policy Implications,” […]
CONTINUE READING
12 Apr 2016

An Up-Date from the Quello Center by Bill Dutton

0
Dear Colleagues and Friends of the Quello Center: Since my last up-date, our Postdoctoral Researcher, Bianca C. Reisdorf, and Assistant Research Professor, Aleksandr Yankelevich, have come onboard. In collaboration with our Research Associates and Assistants, they have enabled us to move forward on new research proposals with some early success. Developing Research Foci: Digital Inequalities and Net Neutrality The mission of the James and Mary Quello Center is to conduct high-quality research that will stimulate and inform debate on media, communication, and information policy for our digital age. A wide range of policy issues have been identified for study, but […]
CONTINUE READING
06 Feb 2016

Understanding the Economics of Net Neutrality

1
Whether you are new to net neutrality and want to better understand the concept or a seasoned researcher who wants an update regarding open questions, I encourage you to read a recent working paper entitled, “Net Neutrality: A Fast Lane to Understanding the Trade-Offs,” by Shane Greenstein, Martin Peitz, and Tommaso Valletti, a group of economists with a track record researching and writing about Internet economics. Although the article is rather recent, I believe it presents a very good starting point for those interested in taking a deeper dive into both specific theoretical and general empirical issues revolving net neutrality. […]
CONTINUE READING
04 Dec 2015

Delivering Pizza Without Offering Pizza Delivery

0
Having appreciated my colleague Aleks’ Yankelevich’s creative use of a “food” metaphor to explain an important aspect of economic analysis, I thought it fitting, on the day of oral arguments in the legal challenge to the FCC’s Open Internet Order, to consider another effective use of such a metaphor:  Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s dissent in the Brand X case.  Whereas the majority opinion in that case deferred to an earlier FCC ruling that Internet access was an “information” rather than a “telecommunication” service, Scalia–joined by two liberal justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter–argued that the majority’s view was akin to accepting a claim by […]
CONTINUE READING
08 Sep 2015

Multiple Methods & Mutual Respect: Key Ingredients For Good Policy Research

0
I thought I’d write a short follow-up in response to the exchange of comments following my recent post on issues related to impacts of the FCC’s Open Internet order on ISP investment. I very much appreciate the responses to my post, especially from Hal Singer and Mark Jamison, whose work was the target of my sometimes insufficiently respectful criticism. It helped me understand the substantive issues better and also reminded me that respectful dialog on important and controversial issues may not always be easy, but is certainly worth the effort…and that I’m still somewhat haltingly learning that lesson. I especially […]
CONTINUE READING
05 Sep 2015

A Reminder Why the Quello Center Net Neutrality Impact Study is Important

20
In the past week or so I’ve seen several articles that remind me how important the Quello Center’s empirically-grounded study of net neutrality impacts is for clarifying what these impacts will be—especially since net neutrality is one of those policy topics where arguments are often driven by ideology and/or competing financial interests. As far as I can tell, this series of articles began with an August 25 piece written by economist Hal Singer and published by Forbes under the following headline: Does The Tumble In Broadband Investment Spell Doom For The FCC’s Open Internet Order? Per his Forbes bio, Singer […]
CONTINUE READING
10 Apr 2015

What Makes a True Progressive in Communications & Tech Policy?

1
On April 1 the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) held an event to discuss its new report entitled “How Techno-Populism Is Undermining Innovation.”  The thrust of the report was to contrast the dangers of what it describes as “tech populism” with the virtues of what it calls “tech progressivism.” The report begins with: There was a time when technology policy was a game of “inside baseball” played mostly by wonks from government agencies, legislative committees, think tanks, and the business community. They brought sober, technical expertise and took a methodical approach to advancing the public interest on complex issues such […]
CONTINUE READING
26 Feb 2015

Launching the Net Neutrality Impact Study

0
MSU’s Quello Center is launching a study of the impact of net neutrality. With the support for net neutrality regulations at the FCC, and in the White House, the debate should quickly move from theoretical speculation to empirical realities: What will be the actual impact of net neutrality regulation? The net neutrality debate has galvanized a wide variety of stakeholders in opposing camps around the wisdom of this regulation on the future of a global, open and secure Internet. Proponents argue that net neutrality will keep the Internet open and in line with its early vision by not advantaging those […]
CONTINUE READING
05 Feb 2015

Please Help Me Understand What’s Wrong with Title II

0
In a blog entry here yesterday I described FCC Chairman Wheeler’s Title II proposal as “replanting the roots” of communication policy in the digital age. Shortly after I posted it, the Commission released a four-page summary of the proposed “New Rules for Protecting the Open Internet.” Not surprisingly, the document triggered a barrage of public responses from a range of interested parties on both sides of the issue. After reviewing the FCC’s Fact Sheet and some of these responses, I found myself puzzled about claims regarding risks and problems associated with Title II classification. So I thought I’d invite comments […]
CONTINUE READING
1 2