Come Help End Broadband Policy Wars Tomorrow

I mentioned this last week but it's worth sharing again: if you're in DC tomorrow, interested in telecom policy, and want an opportunity to potentially be part of history, then you'd better get yourself over to Rob Atkinson's ITIF event entitled "It's Time to End the Broadband Policy Wars" scheduled for Tuesday from 9-10:30am at 1250 Eye St NW Ste 200.

Now I'm realistic in that it's unlikely we can actually bring the broadband policy wars to a close in a single couple hour meeting, but I am hopeful that this meeting will be a big step in the right direction due to its overt call for everyone to settle down and hopefully start having a calmer, more direct debate over issues without characterizing the other side as either evil or ill-informed.

We need more efforts like Rob's to call out the partisan rancor that pervades telecom policy discussions so we can start realizing that these are issues are too important to allow them to get caught up in partisan politics. And that it's not about which side is right and which side is wrong, it's about determining what's best for America.

I know that Rob's isn't the only effort to try and bridge the telecom divide, but his is the first I've seen to come out and overtly call for a truce. And knowing the honest intellectual effort he gives to everything he does, I feel confident that tomorrow will be an event with the potential to change the tenor of these debates so long as we are all willing to enter into these discussions with an open mind and that we're all united in the common goal of trying to find real solutions to these real problems that respect the legitimate concerns of all parties involved.

It's vitally important that all stakeholders are participating in this process of meeting face to face as too often it seems like we're all shouting not at each other as individual human beings but instead as faceless representatives of larger ideals. By coming together to talk in person I'm hopeful we can all start to realize that just because you work for a big telco doesn't mean you're evil, and just because you believe in open, public networks you're a capitalism-hating communist.

I know I'll be there to share my perspective, and I hope all of you are able to make it as well.