The Post-CES Hangover

It’s taken me all week to recover from the information and sensory overload of the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. I want to give particular thanks to the staff of Tech Policy Central, which put on a superb program of speakers and content.

Boiling down my notes from all the sessions, I’ve just finished a long article on what looks to be a dramatic new policy toward the Internet emerging from the White House and the Federal Communications Commission.   More on that early next week.

In the meantime, I strongly recommend Steve Wildstrom’s recent article, which reaches many of the same conclusions I do, in far fewer words and with much greater clarity.  See “Why We Need Telcom Reform and Won’t Get it.”

My post from the show itself , “Why the White House is Backing Away from New Neutrality,” was published last Friday on CNET–indeed, just a few hours after I finished it. Given the controversial nature of the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued in October, it’s probably no surprise that the article proved provocative. Several articles and blog posts praised the piece, and several more were critical of both my analysis and, unfortunately in a few cases, my motivation for writing it. (On the latter point, see the addendum CNET added to the piece that makes clear there was no conflict of interest.)

Oddly enough, this was one article where I wasn’t actually offering an opinion on the wisdom of the proposed rules, as I have of course done elsewhere.

In any case, the initial public comment period on the proposed rules has now closed. It remains to be seen how the FCC will proceed from here (some dates are already given), but for now it’s time to wade through what were undoubtedly a mountain of filings.  For a good start, see Cecilia Kang’s timely post from today.

More to come.