Open Projects

• New Network Neutrality: Toward a Stronger Account of Internet Freedom

  The rise of network neutrality as a crucial Internet policy debate has produced a situation in which current events far outpace theoretical and historical analyses. This is a call for research to address this lag, with three primary goals:

  • Contextualizing recent events in relation to historical telecommunications antecedents.

  • Critically evaluates the current network neutrality debate and offers a set of technical and policy guidelines for a new, more broadly defined network neutrality.

  • Move debate toward a more holistic account of Internet freedom.

  A publishable research paper, plus one or more shorter versions usable in other contexts, would be the desired outcome of this call. This work could be integrated into a range of New America Foundation activities, including public forums, and also support the work of its partner organizations.

• The Impact of Public Advocacy Reforms on the Spectrum Auction Process

  In the spring and summer of 2007, the Public Interest Spectrum Coalition (PISC) pressed the FCC for significant changes to the process auctioning spectrum licenses for the returned analog broadcast spectrum.  The purpose of these reforms was to (a) introduce new entrants into the wireless world -- particularly women and minorities, and (b) prevent incumbents from colluding to distribute licenses at artificially low prices.  Many of the reforms of the public interest groups were adopted.  The desired research would examine (a) whether these reforms achieved their goals; and (b) what further reforms are necessary? 

• Understanding the Costs and Benefits of ‘A la Carte’ Cable

  The desired study would be a comparative analysis of approaches to bundling and unbundling video products (e.g., traditional TV channels, pay-per-view), in order to evaluate the benefits and costs to consumers of each approach.  This study would be instrumental in advancing a contentious and largely data-free debate about the consequences of debundling programming—a debate that divides not only industry but public-interest advocacy groups

• Does “Freedom To Bundle” for Carriers Create Higher Prices for Basic Services?

  Regulators have relaxed price regulation or eliminated them entirely on voice and video carrier (i.e., telephone companies, cable companies, wireless providers, etc.) in anticipation of lower prices.  While bundling of service by carriers has resulted in packages with savings for the underlying basic service and other products in the bundle, the price of the components of these bundles has generally risen faster than inflation.  In effect, bundling has created a regressive price increase for customers only able to afford services a la carte, and increased prices paid by all consumers overall.  Question: Given the characteristics of telecommunications networks, is it inevitable that allowing operators to sell bundled services will result in regressive pricing?

• Internet QoS/Capacity/Network Neutrality Analysis

  Conduct a systematic analysis of the pros and cons of different proposed approaches to quality of service and capacity issues on the Internet. This analysis and report should be drafted by independent experts in the field of Internet service provision, the people who have been studying the Internet and conducting research on network traffic flow for decades. While a technical analysis, a fuller account of the current options and a detailed account of alternatives would have massive telecommunications policy implementations.