Last December, after the FCC voted 3–2 to repeal net neutrality, the presidents of the three New York library systems (New York, Brooklyn, and Queens) warned in an open letter that "without the current protections, the already yawning digital divide will be widened. We know in New York City, millions of families cannot afford broadband access at home…For the FCC to place internet access—something that in today’s world is a necessity, not a luxury—even further out of reach is appalling." As Washington and other states work to pass laws upholding net neutrality, governors sign executive actions aiming to do the same, and attorneys general and private companies set out to sue the FCC, there are more questions than answers about the fate of the repeal. Library President Tony Marx will lead the panel to bring a greater understand of what those questions are, what the various actions around the nation portend, and what individual citizens can do to protect their digital rights. With: - Susan Crawford, John A. Reilly Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and member of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Broadband Task Force - Jessica Rosenworcel, Commissioner to the Federal Communications Commission - Tim Wu, Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law at Columbia Law School and author of Network Neutrality Broadband Discrimination
New York City, NY; NYC