WASHINGTON D.C. – The Progress & Freedom Foundation's 12th Annual Aspen Summit program will feature keynote speeches and panel remarks from many prominent public sector officials. Recently added to the agenda is a public policy luncheon panel, featuring frank discussion of technology policy issues with important policymakers. The participants will include Congressional Committee staff and high ranking officials from federal agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Commerce. Today, PFF is also announcing the participation of Commissioner Jon Leibowitz of the Federal Trade Commission in the Privacy and Security Working Dinner.

Confirmed panel participants for the luncheon on Tuesday, August 22nd, include two central staff members from the U.S. House Committee on Energy & Commerce. They are Howard Waltzman, Chief Counsel for Telecommunications and the Internet and Deputy Staff Director, Policy, Andrew Black. The U.S. House Committee on Energy & Commerce has addressed many important technology policy issues in the past year, including network neutrality, general telecom reform and consumer data protection.

Robert Cresanti, Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology at the U.S. Department of Commerce, will also participate in the luncheon panel. Cresanti, who has years of technology policy experience in both the public and private sector, is head of the Department's Technology Administration. Ambassador David Gross, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, will offer an international perspective to the panel. Also confirmed for the panel are Chief of Staff, Brian Huseman, and Maureen Ohlhausen, Director of Office of Planning & Policy, both with the Federal Trade Commission.

Joining FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras, a keynote speaker at the Aspen Summit, will be FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz. Leibowitz, Commissioner since 2004, will participate in the Privacy and Security Working Dinner, to be held Monday, August 21st. The always popular Working Dinners provide attendees with a forum to debate pertinent topics in an informal, off the record setting. More details about this year's Working Dinner participants and topics will be released at a later date.

Further details about the 2006 PFF Aspen Summit, to be held at the St. Regis Hotel in Aspen, Colorado, can be found on our web site. Registration for the event can be performed online. Media, as always, are welcome to attend for free, and should contact Amy Smorodin at 202-289-8928 or asmorodin@pff.org.

The Progress & Freedom Foundation is a market-oriented think tank that studies the digital revolution and its implications for public policy. It is a 501(c)(3) research & educational organization.