2021 News and Events
The Free State Foundation Hosts FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington
The Free State Foundation is very pleased to host FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington for his maiden address on Tuesday, February 16, 2021.
Click HERE to register and receive the Zoom link.
FSF President Randolph May Participated in FCBA Program — “The 25th Anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of 1996”
FSF President Randolph May participated in a February 2, 2021, virtual Federal Communications Bar Association program on “The 25th Anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.” The Telecommunications Act of 1996 became law in February 1996. With the approach of the 25th anniversary of the Act, the program speakers reflected on this landmark legislation, what it has meant for the communications industry, and the lessons from the last 25 years that can inform the next.
Click HERE to watch the program.
FSF President Randolph May on C-SPAN’s “The Communicators”
FSF President Randolph Mays appeared on C-SPAN’s “The Communicators” program on January 28, 2021, discussing free speech and censorship on social media.
Click HERE to watch the program.
“The Supreme Court, the FCC, and Communications Law,” a Webinar Featuring the Cato Institute’s Ilya Shapiro
The Free State Foundation hosted a January 22, 2021, webinar featuring remarks by Ilya Shapiro, director of the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, and publisher of the Cato Supreme Court Review. He is the author of the recently published book “Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America’s Highest Court.”
Mr. Shapiro addressed the Supreme Court’s current and prospective jurisprudence regarding the nondelegation doctrine, Chevron deference, the status of independent agencies, and other administrative law doctrines as they impact communications law and FCC decisions such as net neutrality and speech regulation. Following Mr. Shapiro’s initial remarks, Christopher Yoo, John H. Chestnut Professor of Law, Communication, and Computer & Information Science, and Director of the Center for Technology, Innovation & Competition at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Seth Cooper, Director of Policy Studies and Senior Fellow at the Free State Foundation, offered comments.
#FSFShapiro
Farewell Address by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai
The Free State Foundation hosted a Virtual Farewell Address by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai via Zoom on January 8, 2021.
A discussion with Chairman Pai followed his address with FSF President Randolph May, FSF Director of Policy Studies and Senior Fellow Seth Cooper, and FSF Senior Fellow Andrew Long.
View the video of the January 8 Free State Foundation event:
A Farewell Address by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai
2020 News and Events
Broadband Beyond 2020: Competition, Freedom, and Privacy
The Free State Foundation’s Twelfth Annual Telecom Policy Conference was held on March 10, 2020, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. This annual conference is widely acknowledged to be one of the nation’s premier communications law and policy events.
As in previous years, a truly outstanding lineup of senior officials and prominent experts from the FCC, other government agencies, industry, academia, and think tanks discussed and debated the most important communications and Internet policy issues of the day, including Internet freedom and net neutrality, broadband deployment, competition policy, the 5G rollout, privacy regulation, the changing video services landscape and regulatory environment, universal service, and more.
Keynoters included DOJ Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, former FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson, and Special Assistant to the President for Technology, Telecom, and Cybersecurity Policy Robin Colwell.
For more information, click here. #FSFConf12
Free State Foundation President Randolph May to Give Opening Keynote Address
Free State Foundation President Randolph May will give the Opening Keynote Address at Duke Law Journal’s 50th Annual Administrative Law Symposium: Charting the New Landscape of Administrative Adjudication on February 14 in Durham, NC.
Free State Foundation President Randolph May to Speak at Duke University
Free State Foundation President Randolph May will speak on Hot Topics in Communications Policy: A Federalist Society Perspective at Duke University School of Law in Durham, NC, on February 13, 2020, at an event hosted by the Duke Student Chapter of the Federalist Society.
2019 News and Events
Free State Foundation President Randolph May Reacts to the D.C. Circuit’s October 1, 2019, Opinion Reviewing the FCC’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order
“No doubt the FCC scored a major victory today when the D.C. Circuit upheld its fundamental determination that broadband Internet services are not subject to the Commission’s regulatory jurisdiction. But no doubt it — and consumers — also suffered a defeat when the court ruled that the agency could not broadly preempt state laws inconsistent with its deregulatory approach. The prospect of various states, like California or New York, imposing public utility-like regulation on Internet providers, and others imposing a patchwork of differing mandates, is more than unappealing — it’s almost certainly harmful to the continued investment and innovation that has made the Internet the integrated ‘network of networks’ that it is today.
“So, it’s important that the FCC attempt to overturn the court’s preemption ruling. And it is even more important that Congress, finally, enact legislation that would embody a satisfactory national solution that doesn’t include at its core public utility-like regulation of Internet services.”
Free State Foundation’s Privacy Regulation: Why, What, and When? Policy Seminar
The Free State Foundation held a policy seminar Wednesday, June 26, 2019, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, from 12 noon – 2 p.m. The seminar – “Privacy Regulation: Why, What, and When?” included keynote addresses by Senator Marsha Blackburn and FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips and a panel discussion by experts addressing potential new privacy regulation, whether by Congress, the FTC or other federal agencies, or the states. The panelists included Kelly Cole, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs at CTIA; Lynn Follansbee, Vice President, Policy & Advocacy at USTelecom; Loretta Polk, Vice President & Deputy General Counsel at NCTA – The Internet & Television Association; and Michelle Richardson, Director of the Privacy & Data Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT).
Free State Foundation’s Eleventh Annual Telecom Policy Conference
The Free State Foundation held its Eleventh Annual Telecom Policy Conference on Tuesday, March 26, 2019, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. The conference theme was “Internet Providers and Platforms: Getting Law and Policy Right.” Keynotes speakers included FTC Chairman Joseph Simons, NTIA Administrator David Redl, FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly, and Andrew Finch, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General – Antitrust Division, Department of Justice on behalf of DOJ Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim. Other speakers included Alden Abbott, General Counsel, Federal Trade Commission; Jonathan Adelstein, President and CEO, Wireless Infrastructure Association; James Assey, Executive Vice President, NCTA – The Internet & Television Association; Tim Brennan, Professor of Public Policy and Economics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Member of FSF’s Board of Academic Advisors; Maurita Coley, President and CEO, Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council; Michelle Connolly, Professor, Duke University, and Member of FSF’s Board of Academic Advisors; Kathleen Grillo, Senior Vice President, Public Policy & Government Affairs, Verizon Communications Inc.; Kathleen Ham, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, T-Mobile USA; Daniel Lyons, Professor, Boston College Law School, and Member of FSF’s Board of Academic Advisors; Robert McDowell, Partner, Cooley, and former Commissioner, FCC; Gigi Sohn, Distinguished Fellow, Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law and Policy, and Benton Senior Fellow and Public Advocate; and Christopher Yoo, Professor, University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Member of FSF’s Board of Academic Advisors.
2018 News And Events
A video of the Free State Foundation’s November 9, 2018, event at the National Press Club celebrating FSF’s newest book, A Reader on Net Neutrality and Restoring Internet Freedom, edited by Free State Foundation President Randolph May and FSF Senior Fellow Seth Cooper, is below. Tom Johnson, the FCC’s General Counsel, and Andrew Smith, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, delivered keynote remarks, and Free State Foundation experts, Seth Cooper and Ted Bolema, discussed the most important, most current, hot-topic legal and policy issues in the ongoing net neutrality and privacy protection controversies. You can read Tom Johnson’s remarks here.
Free State Foundation President Randolph May was a panelist at the NARUC Annual Meeting on Sunday, November 11, 2018, in Orlando, Florida. The panel, “The VoIP “State” – What’s Happening? What’s Next?” discussed the pending Minnesota Commission petition for rehearing en banc of a recent 8th Circuit 2-1 decision preempting state oversight as well as the Vermont Commission remand resulting from the 2013 Vermont Supreme Court decision that upheld a Vermont Public Utility Commission determination that “fixed” VoIP service is subject to PUC authority.
The Free State Foundation has just published its latest book, A Reader on Net Neutrality and Restoring Internet Freedom.
In the context of offering a convincing defense of the adoption of the FCC’s December 2017 Restoring Internet Freedom Order, this volume provides a wealth of information and key insights into the long-running debate surrounding “net neutrality” regulation. The selected writings in this Reader, most of which were previously published as Perspectives from FSF Scholars or FSF blogs, explain why, in our view, the FCC’s pro-consumer, pro-investment, and pro-innovation approach to regulation of Internet service providers adopted in the Restoring Internet Freedom Order should be preserved.
A Reader on Net Neutrality and Restoring Internet Freedom is available from Amazon here in paperback for $9.95 or for your Kindle here for $2.99. And it is available here from Apple and other booksellers in various e-book formats for $2.99 or less.
A Video of FSF’s June 28 #CommPolicy Seminar Is Now Available!
- Opening Remarks by Federal Communications Commissioner Michael O’Rielly – “An Update on FCC Process Reform Efforts: Possible Next Steps.”
- Then a panel discussion addressing the latest municipal broadband developments with special attention to “big city” networks, net neutrality and First Amendment considerations. The panelists were Enrique Armijo, Associate Professor of Law at Elon University School of Law and a Member of the Free State Foundation Board of Academic Advisors; Theodore Bolema, Free State Foundation Senior Fellow; and Chris Lewis, Vice President of Public Knowledge.
- Immediately following the panel, Alden Abbott, the Federal Trade Commission’s new General Counsel, delivered Closing Remarks – “Protecting Consumers and Competition at the New FTC.”
Free State Foundation’s Policy Seminar on FCC Process Reform, Municipal Broadband, and Consumer Protection
View a slideshow of the Free State Foundation’s Policy Seminar on FCC Process Reform, Municipal Broadband, and Consumer Protection at the FTC, held June 28, 2018, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
Free State Foundation’s Tenth Annual Telecom Policy Conference
Speeches and Highlights
Ajit Pai, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, delivered his opening keynote address via video at the Free State Foundation’s Tenth Annual Telecom Policy Conference held at the National Press Club. The conference, themed “Connecting All of America: Advancing the Gigabit and 5G Future,” was held March 27, 2018. A link to the video his address is here.
David Redl, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and Administrator, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, delivered a keynote address. His speech is here.
C-SPAN’s video of the entire conference is here.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai delivered the opening keynote address. FCC Commissioners Michael O’Rielly and Brendan Carr joined FSF President Randolph May in the traditional lunchtime conversation. And Neomi Rao, Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, and David Redl, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, both delivered a keynote address. Other speakers included: James Assey, Executive Vice President, NCTA; Jeff Campbell, Vice President, The Americas of Global Government Affairs, Cisco Systems, Inc.; Michelle Connolly, Professor, Duke University, and Member of FSF’s Board of Academic Advisors; David Cohen, Senior Executive Vice President, Comcast Corporation; Kathleen Grillo, Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Public Policy and Government Affairs, Verizon Communications Inc.; John Jones, Senior Vice President of Public Policy & Government Relations, CenturyLink; Chris Lewis, Vice President, Public Knowledge; Daniel Lyons, Professor, Boston College Law School, and Member of FSF’s Board of Academic Advisors; Tom Power, Senior Vice President & General Counsel, CTIA; Nicol Turner-Lee, Fellow, Governance Studies, Center for Technology Innovation, Brookings; and Christopher Yoo, Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Member of FSF’s Board of Academic Advisors.
* * * The agenda is here. * * *
View a slideshow of the Free State Foundation’s Tenth Annual Telecom Policy Conference – “Connecting All of America: Advancing the Gigabit and 5G Future” – held March 27, 2018, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
SB 238 TestimonyFree State Foundation President Randolph J. May and Research Fellow Michael J. Horney submitted written testimony and Mr. Horney testified at a March 2, 2018, Hearing on SB 287, “State Funds – Procurement of Services From Internet Service Providers – Restriction,” before the Committee on Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs, Maryland General Assembly. The testimony opposes SB 287 on legal and policy grounds. |
2017 News and Events
Randolph May on C-SPANSee Free State Foundation President Randolph May discuss the FCC’s net neutrality decision on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal on December 15, 2017. The video is here. |
C-SPAN’s video of FSF’s entire Ninth Annual Telecom Policy Conference, held May 31, 2017, is here.The program brochure, with the agenda and the speaker bios, for FSF’s Ninth Annual Telecom Policy Conference on May 31, 2017, is here. The Free State Foundation’s Ninth Annual Telecom Policy Conference was held on Wednesday, May 31, 2017, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Ajit Pai, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, joined FSF President Randolph May in the traditional lunchtime conversation. Other speakers included Meredith Baker, President and CEO, CTIA; David Cohen, Senior Executive Vice President, Comcast Corporation; Seth Cooper, Senior Fellow, Free State Foundation; Michelle Connolly, Professor of the Practice of Economics, Duke University, and Member of FSF’s Board of Academic Advisors; C. Boyden Gray, Founding Partner, Boyden Gray & Associates, and former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union and former White House Counsel; Kim Keenan, President and CEO, MMTC; Blair Levin, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution; Tad Lipsky, Acting Director, Bureau of Competition, FTC; Daniel Lyons, Boston College Law School, and Member of FSF’s Board of Academic Advisors; Tom Pahl, Acting Director, Bureau of Consumer Protection, FTC; Robert Quinn, Senior Executive Vice President, External and Legislative Affairs, AT&T; and Howard Shelanski, Professor of Law, Georgetown University, and former Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the Office of Management and Budget. An event flyer is here. The conference agenda is here and the conference brochure with speaker bios is here. |
Free State Foundation President Randolph May will participate on a panel at the “Prioritizing Governance: For Resilient Critical Infrastructure” symposium, hosted by the National Academy of Public Administration and the George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government on October 30, 2017. Mr. May’s panel will discuss the governance challenges in a resilient communications network.
The Free State Foundation will hold a policy seminar Tuesday, July 25, 2017, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. The seminar’s theme is “Next Generation 5G Wireless Networks: Seizing the Opportunities and Overcoming the Obstacles.” Speakers include FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly; Donald Stockdale, Bureau Chief, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, FCC; Jonathan Adelstein, President & CEO, Wireless Infrastructure Association; Robert S. Fisher, Senior Vice President, Federal Government Affairs, Verizon; Crystal Tully, Majority Counsel, Technology and Telecommunications, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation; and Jeff Weninger, Member, House of Representatives, Arizona State Legislature. An event flyer is here. To register, click here.
Watch C-SPAN’s video of FSF’s entire Ninth Annual Telecom Policy Conference, held May 31, 2017, here.
FSF Rescheduled Ninth Annual Telecom Policy Conference – Wednesday, May 31
The Free State Foundation has rescheduled its Ninth Annual Telecom Policy Conference on Wednesday, May 31, 2017, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Ajit Pai, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, will join FSF President Randolph May in the traditional lunchtime conversation. Other speakers include Meredith Baker, President and CEO, CTIA; David Cohen, Senior Executive Vice President, Comcast Corporation; Seth Cooper, Senior Fellow, Free State Foundation; Michelle Connolly, Professor of the Practice of Economics, Duke University, and Member of FSF’s Board of Academic Advisors; C. Boyden Gray, Founding Partner, Boyden Gray & Associates, and former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union and former White House Counsel; Kim Keenan, President and CEO, MMTC; Blair Levin, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution; Tad Lipsky, Acting Director, Bureau of Competition, FTC; Daniel Lyons, Boston College Law School, and Member of FSF’s Board of Academic Advisors; Tom Pahl, Acting Director, Bureau of Consumer Protection, FTC; Robert Quinn, Senior Executive Vice President, External and Legislative Affairs, AT&T; and Howard Shelanski, Professor of Law, Georgetown University, and former Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the Office of Management and Budget. With a newly reconstituted FCC and a new Congress in place, this year’s agenda-setting annual conference surely will be one of the most important ever. An event flyer is here. The conference agenda is here.
Free State Foundation President Randolph May will participate in a Lifeline Update briefing of MMTC’s Digital Equity Roundtable, New Telecom and Internet Policy Task Force, and “Best Minds” Policy Committee on March 21, 2017. Government, nonprofit, consumer advocates, and Lifeline broadband providers will discuss where things stand on the modernization of Lifeline and the future of the program.
2016
| A PDF of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s Address at the Free State Foundation’s Tenth Anniversary Gala Luncheon on December 7, 2016, at the National Press Club, Washington, DC, is here. A PDF of FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly’s Address at the Gala Luncheon is here. Videos are available below of the Free State Foundation’s Tenth Anniversary Gala Luncheon, held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on December 7, 2016. The “Segment 1” video includes a Welcome by FSF President Randolph May, and an address by Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, Vice Chair, House Energy and Commerce Committee, Republican Deputy Whip, and Trump Transition Team Executive Committee Member. |
“Segment 2” of FSF’s Tenth Anniversary Gala Luncheon video includes remarks by FCC Commissioners Ajit Pai and Michael O’Rielly; Karyn Temple Claggett, Acting Register of Copyrights and Director of U.S. Copyright Office; and Professor Daniel Lyons, Boston College Law School, and member of FSF’s Board of Academic Advisors.
Speakers for FSF’s celebration of its Tenth Anniversary of its founding at the gala celebratory lunch on Wednesday, December 7, 2016, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Speakers included Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, Vice Chair, House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Republican Deputy Whip; Ajit Pai, FCC Commissioner; Michael O’Rielly, FCC Commissioner; Karyn Temple Claggett, Acting Register of Copyrights and Director of U.S. Copyright Office; and Daniel Lyons, Professor,Boston College Law School, and member of FSF’s Board of Academic Advisors
Free State Foundation President Randolph May will participate in a Lifeline
Update briefing of MMTC’s Digital Equity Roundtable, New Telecom and Internet
Policy Task Force, and “Best Minds” Policy Committee on March 21, 2017.
Government, nonprofit, consumer advocates, and Lifeline broadband providers
will discuss where things stand on the modernization of Lifeline and the future of
the program.
Forum on Intellectual Property and First Principles
On February 10, 2016, Free State Foundation President Randolph May participated in a forum on Intellectual Property and First Principles, presented by the Cato Institute’s Center for Constitutional Studies and the Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy Studies. A video of the panel’s session is here. With FSF Senior Fellow Seth Cooper, Mr. May is the co-author of The Constitutional Foundations of Intellectual Property.