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ROBERT M. FRIEDEN Right click to download video: Frieden Video
Pioneers Chair and Professor of Telecommunications and Law
Penn State University
102 Carnegie Building
University Park, PA 16802
+1 814 863-7996; e-mail: rmf5@psu.edu

A Policy Agenda for a New Administration (Lexington Books, 2009). An Executive Summary and Table of Contents are available at: http://www.fact-wg.info/.

The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing that examined wireless handset exclusivity, as well as limitations on consumers' access to functions available from wireless devices, and downloadable software applications. While no one disputed the likelihood that smart phones will increasingly operate like small personal computers. However, wireless subscribers do not have the same freedom to attach to networks as they do for televisions, conventional personal computers and devices attached to the wired network. The Apple Apps store current offers 30,000 choices compared to the millions available via the web. Major wireless carriers, such as AT&T and Verizon, claim handset exclusivity and access limitations are necessary business decisions that do not harm consumers. I disagree, and in testimony explain how an emphasis on recouping handset subsidies reduces innovation for devices that will become increasingly essential "third screen" alternatives to televisions and larger computers.

I have created a provocative blog containing my thoughts and analyses of information, communications and entertainment ("ICE") issues. See http://telefrieden.blogspot.com/. The blog will concentrate on important legal, regulatory, marketplace and cultural issues that warrant closer scrutiny particularly in light of the proliferation of "research" that supports a particular stakeholder's viewpoint without having disclosed direct or indirect financial sponsorship.

        My latest book manuscript nears completion. The Digital Advantage: How Nations Win and Lose the Silicon Sweepstakes examines how and why the United States lost its “digital advantage.” The book poses and answers a number of key questions including:

•         What must nations do to acquire and maintain competitive advantages in content and conduit?

•         If the information revolution was supposed to “change everything” how did over $1 trillion in investment largely evaporate in three years?

•         How can incumbent telephone companies successfully argue the need for next generation network investment incentives while at the same time claiming robust competition justifies deregulation?

•         How can nations successfully bridge a Digital Divide between residents that have access to, and can afford ICE conduits and content and residents that have neither?

•         If the ICE marketplace has become so robustly competitive where are the usual consumer benefits of lower prices, diverse choices, and consumer service?

•         Why does it appear that incumbent ventures can belatedly embrace new technologies yet eventually extend their market power by acquiring or extinguishing most competitive threats? and

•         Will the next generation Internet so lose its openness and accessibility that new ventures will not get a fair chance to become “the next big thing”?

I am attempting to make sense of the Net Neutrality issue with an eye toward understanding what constitutes reasonable service differentiation and price discrimination by Internet Service Providers and what amounts to an unfair trade practice. My analysis stands midway between net neutrality "purists" who consider any form of service tiering a grave problem and advocates for total pricing, quality of service and interconnection flexibility. A general Powerpoint presentation of the the issues, entitled Internet 3.0: Identifying Problems and Solutions to the Network Neutrality Debate is available at: AEJMC 2007 Presentation. I have written an introduction to the subject in as unbiased a manner as possible: Network Neutrality Primer. A forward looking assessment of the impact of the debate on next generation networks is available: Network Neutrality and Next Generation Networks.

For an assessment whether and how non-neutral networks affect ISP exemption from liability for copyright infringement and "fair use" rights see Net Neutrality and IPR. A powerpoint presentation of the paper is available: Packet Sniffing and DRM.

Increasingly the issue of network neutrality and the future of the Internet links with broader issues about the future of the Internet. One forward looking consideration addresses broadband access and affordability. A recent presentation entitled "Internet Access as Essential Infrastructure: Public Utility, Private Utility or Neither?" examines broadband penetration statistics in the U.S. and in other countries; see Broadband Penetration Statistics.

Belatedly the network neutrality debate has begun to address the extent to which wireless subscribers can use their handsets to access any content, including software. In 1968 the Federal Communications Commission's Carterfone policy required wireline telephone companies to decouple telecommunications service from the installation and maintenance of inside wiring and the lease or sale of telephones. Decades later the FCC may consider what rights wireless subscribers have to attach devices and access content of their choosing. I have written a paper supporting wireless Carterfone for the New America Foundation; see http://www.newamerica.net/publications/policy/wireless_cartefone. A summary of the paper is available at: Wireless Carterfone Paper Summary.

This course (offered by the Dickinson School of Law and the College of Communications at Penn State) aims to present, investigate, and debate ongoing or anticipated conflicts in specific telecommunications law and policy issues. We will examine and debate a series of spectrum management, broadcasting, cable television, common carrier, Internet, resource allocation, and technology planning issues. Students will prepare for each class by reading the assigned materials and generally taking responsibility to understand or pose questions about the positions of all major constituencies or coalitions involved.

MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY

This course will provide students an opportunity to develop a better sense of the media’s role in democracies and other governance systems. We will strive to achieve greater understanding about the media’s multifaceted role as an integral part of democratic society, but also as a profit seeking business. The course will examine the traditional literature with an eye toward assessing what fundamental freedoms and roles persist based on current philosophical and policy challenges.

In this course, students will learn to: examine the role of established and new media in a representative democracy; demonstrate an understanding of the history and role of media professionals and institutions in helping to frame public policies; think critically, creatively and independently; express complex thoughts in the spoken and written word; and assess how and when the media works independently of, or cooperatively with, public policy stakeholders.

The course should have broad appeal to students including degree candidates in political science, history, economics, philosophy, and information science. Both written assignments and in class tests will assess student performance.

The undergraduate syllabus is available at: Media and Democracy Course. The graduate version is available at: Graduate Media and Democracy Course

Other Courses

A Freshman Seminar on Digital Literacy is available at: Digital Literacy Course.

Spring, 2009 courses are available at: Comm 492 Internet Law and Policy and at: Comm 484 Emerging Telecommunications and Information Processing Technologies

Attention Prospective Students!! If you like what you see above, please consider Penn State's College of Communications for your undergraduate or graduate studies. See http://www.psu.edu/dept/comm/

Here is some unsolicited advice on achieving success in college: Student Advice.

I am co-author of, and provide biannual updates to All About Cable and Broadband, a 650 page comprehensive analysis on the law and policies affecting cable satellite and broadband communications, first published in 1981.