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The recently announced initiative in Congress to update the Communications Act makes even more relevant the upcoming experts workshop on “The Broadband Act of 2011: Designing a Communications Act for the 21st Century” (details below). Scholars wishing to make their voices heard and interested in participating in the national debate on the future of the Internet and broadband networks are offered the opportunity to do so through this Workshop. Action by Congress may supersede the FCC’s proposal to reclassify the regulatory status of broadband and redefine the scope of the FCC’s authority. This is an opportunity to provide timely input to policy makers. Submissions by young scholars and new and diverse voices are particularly invited.

The passage of the National Broadband Plan in March 2010; the heated debate over Title II reclassification; the ongoing deliberations regarding the NPRM on Network Neutrality; the Comcast-NBCU merger proceedings; and the April 2010 Appeals Court decision in Comcast v. FCC, all point to the need for a comprehensive overhaul of the Communications Act. The last time such a wide-ranging initiative took place was in 1996. That effort led to a blueprint for competition in local telephony markets, universal service reform, and deregulation of media ownership rules, all of which have had an effect on the structure of the media and telecommunications industries today. But it barely addressed the broadband Internet. Now, 15 years later, it is clear that a new legal framework is required to confront the challenges created by a national network that is broadband based.