This is a GREAT conference, I hope some of you can attend! Let me know if you have any questions about it, this will be my fifth time there and I was on the Program Committee this year so I have a pretty good idea of what to expect. -- Eszter Shaping Debate, Informing Decision Makers: 31st Annual Telecommunications Policy Research Conference on Communications, Information and Internet Policy http://www.tprc.org MEDIA CONTACTS: Benjamin Compaine, Chair of TPRC Board of Directors Email: compaine@itc.mit.edu Robert Cannon, Chair of Program Committee Email: cannon@cybertelecom.org (Arlington, Virginia) - The 31st annual Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (TPRC) on Communications, Information and Internet Policy will be held September 19 through 21, 2003 in Arlington, Virginia. Hosted by the Center for Technology and Law at George Mason University Law School, TPRC is the premier senior-level academic forum that addresses the economic, social, and technical dimensions of communications policy in the Information Age. �There are few, if any policy conferences where government decision makers go out of their way to be in the audience as opposed to being on the podium,� observes Robert Cannon, Chair of the Program Committee. �TPRC is the annual showcase where decision makers go to be exposed to original thinking and hard data.� This year�s conference features over twenty sessions during which economists, social scientists, technologists and lawyers present original research about a range of timely topics to include broadband deployment, Wi-Fi networks, consolidation and mergers, and digital copyrights. Keynote speakers will be Michael K. Powell (invited), Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman, Randolph May of the Progress & Freedom Foundation, and Andrew Schwartzman (invited) of the Media Access Project. Program highlights include panels discussing the FCC�s relaxed media ownership rules, the Congressional challenge to that ruling, and an exploration into the consolidation of and competition in telecommunications industries by senior economists from the Department of Justice, the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission. Devoid of sound bites, pundits and rhetoric, TPRC moves into the oasis of original research and solid data. �Where else can you find the FCC�s Chief for Policy Development, Commissioners and staff, some of the leading thinkers from the academic community, and former FCC economists and technologists?� reflects Ben Compaine, Chair of the Board of Directors, about the upcoming conference. Complete details about the conference and registration materials are available online at www.tprc.org. Attendees save $100 if registration is received by August 22, 2003. _______________________________________________ No banners. No pop-ups. No kidding. Introducing My Way - http://www.myway.com