WASHINGTON, D.C. - Major corporations are lobbying Washington to impose regulations on broadband Internet services to preserve what they have term ‘Net Neutrality.’ They claim that unfettered access to the Internet and its open, end-to-end architecture may be in danger without new regulation. What is “Net Neutrality? Are such fears warranted? Should Washington be prepared to increase regulation of the broadband Internet? A Friday, June 27 conference featuring a keynote address by a senior Bush Administration official and a luncheon speech by a top FCC official will help answer those and related questions.

The Progress & Freedom Foundation conference, “Net Neutrality or Net Neutering: Should Broadband Internet Services Be Regulated,” will take place at the J.W. Marriott Hotel at 1331 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, in Washington. A keynote address by Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Administrator of the National Telecommunications & Information Administration Nancy J. Victory begins at 9:00 a.m., followed by two panels at 9:30 and 10:45 p.m. There will be a luncheon address by W. Kenneth Ferree, Chief of the FCC’s Media Bureau.

The first panel, “Industry Perspectives on the Need for Regulating Broadband Networks,” includes Jeffrey Campbell of Cisco Systems, Paul Misener of Amazon.com, Robert Sachs of the National Cable & Telecommunications Assoc., and Tom Tauke of Verizon. The moderator will be Randolph J. May, senior fellow and director of communications policy studies at the Foundation.

The second panel, “Economic and Public Policy Perspectives on the Need for Regulating Broadband Networks,” includes Mark Cooper with Consumer Federation of America, David Scheffman with the FTC, Joseph Farrell from the University of California at Berkeley and Bruce Owen and Gregory Rosston of Stanford’s Institute of Economic Policy Research. Thomas M. Lenard, senior fellow and VP for research at the Foundation will moderate.

Anyone interested in attending the conference should contact Rebecca Fuller of the Foundation at 202-289-8928 or rfuller@pff.org. The Progress & Freedom Foundation is a market-oriented think tank that studies the impact of the digital revolution and its implications for public policy. It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1993.