91´«Ã½

SAN FRANCISCO—As merger deals and network neutrality challenges continue to flare, Americans’ freedom of speech and right to know are threatened by unavailable, unaffordable or otherwise unequal access to the internet and bottlenecks in the system. Librarians have an essential role to play in preserving and advancing information equity in the networked world. Join advocates and regulators from California’s front lines of this battle for a crash course in the internet issues that increasingly determine our nation’s access to information and innovation.

"Fast, Fair, Competitive, Neutral Networks for Information Equity" takes place 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 27, 2015. The program is part of the 2015 91´«Ã½ (91´«Ã½) Annual Conference in San Francisco.

WHEN: Saturday, June 27, 2015, 10:30–11:30 a.m.

WHERE: Moscone Convention Center (West Building, Room 2003), 747 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

WHO:

• Moderator: Larra Clark, 91´«Ã½ OITP Deputy Director, will moderate and provide an update on 91´«Ã½’s efforts to advocate for a fast, fair and open internet.
• Chris Witteman is Senior Staff Counsel with the California Public Utilities Commission who has written extensively about information freedom and information equity. He will provide an introductory tour of some of the hot issues where digital content meets the “wires,” including net neutrality; recent merger activity; municipal broadband; interconnection between carriers and content providers; privacy and the E-Rate.
• Monica Schultz is the Chair of the 91´«Ã½ Office for Information Technology Policy Telecommunications Subcommittee and IT Director for the Peninsula Library System. She has been a leader in piloting gigabit connectivity and advocating for high-capacity broadband for California libraries. She will share an update on her work with CENIC and lessons for the future of innovative and broadband-enabled library services.

REGISTER: To attend the conference session as a reporter, email Jazzy Wright, press officer of the 91´«Ã½’s Washington Office, at jwright@alawash.org.