Carnegie Mellon University
Friday, March 28th, 11am
Davis Auditorium
Abstract:
Should ISPs be allowed to limit which applications, which content, and which devices
are available to Internet users? Is there a useful role for government regulation? This presentation
addresses the debate over "network neutrality," an issue of Internet law and regulation that will affect
how networks are designed, and perhaps which individuals and companies benefit most from the
Internet. This presentation will discuss the motivation for adopting network neutrality regulations, the
potential dangers and disadvantages, the regulations adopted by the U.S. Federal Communications
Commission after two years of deliberation, and implications of the recent court ruling that struck down
some of those regulations.
Bio: Jon Peha is a Full Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He has addressed information networks from positions in industry, government, and academia. In government, he served at the Federal Communications Commission as Chief Technologist, in the White House as Assistant Director of the Office of Science & Technology Policy where he focused on telecommunications and research, in the House Energy & Commerce Committee, and at USAID where he helped launch and lead a US Government interagency program to assist developing countries with information infrastructure. In industry, he has been Chief Technical Officer for three high-tech companies, and a member of technical sta at SRI International, AT&T Bell Laboratories, and Microsoft. At Carnegie Mellon, he is a Professor in the Dept. of Engineering & Public Policy and the Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering, and former Associate Director of the university's Center for Wireless & Broadband Networking. His research spans technical and policy issues of information networks, including spectrum management, broadband Internet, wireless networks, video and voice over IP, communications for emergency responders, universal service, privacy, secure Internet payment systems, online dissemination of copyrighted material, and network security. Dr. Peha holds a PhD in electrical engineering from Stanford, and a BS from Brown. He is an IEEE Fellow and an AAAS Fellow, and was selected by AAAS as one of 40 "Featured AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellows" of the last 40 years ("40@40"). Dr. Peha has received the FCC's "Excellence in Engineering Award," the IEEE Communications Society TCCN Publication Award for career contributions, and the Brown Engineering Medal.