Introduction and course overview

What is at stake?
[slides]

• "Financial Turmoil in the Telecommunications Marketplace: Maintaining the Operations of Essential Communications.", abstract from FCC chairman Michael Powell presented before the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation of the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, July 30th,2002.
• "The Great Telecoms Crash", The Economist, July 18th 2000
  (if that link doesn't work, try http://www.economist.com/printedition/displaystory.cfm?Story_ID=1234886)
• Technologies of Freedom, Chapter 1: "A Shadow Darkens" [in the reader]

Networks and convergence
[slides]

• The Gordian Knot, Chapter 2: "The Nature of Networks"
• Manuel Castells, The Rise of the Network Society (Vol. 1 of The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture), (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1996) "Conclusion: The Network Society" pp. 469-478. [in the reader]
• Marvin Sirbu, "Telecommunications technology and Infrastructure", in Annual Review of the Institute for Information Studies - 1992, pp 155-180. [download]

The basis for government involvement

• The Gordian Knot, Chapter 3: "The Networks and the State"

Telecommunications
[slides (large file: 3Mb)]

• Vietor, Richard, Contrived Competition: Regulation and Deregulation in America, (Cambridge MA: Belknap Press, 1994), Chapter 5 "AT&T", pp167-233 [on reserve]

Telecommunications (cont'd)
[slides]

• The Gordian Knot, Chapter 5

Broadcasting
[slides (telecom, cont'd)]

• Technologies of Freedom [in the reader]
  Chapter 6: "Broadcasting and the First Amendment"

Cable TV
[broadcasting slides]

• Technologies of Freedom [in the reader]
  Chapter 7: "Cable Television and the End of Scarcity"

Cellular telephony
[slides]

• "Ma Bell's orphan: US cellular telephony, 1947-1996" (Telecommunications Policy, 26 (2002) 189-203)
  ( You will need to be connected to the Stanford network to access this article )
• "The tortoise and the hare" (The Economist, Mar 14th 2002)
• "3G by any other name" (The Economist, Jan 10th 2002)

Cable TV - Policy wrap-up
[CATV slides] [wrap-up slides] [sources/citations slides]

• Readings: catch-up with readings assigned to oct 23rd

Networks and economic transformation
[eco-transformation slides] [e-marketplace slides]

• Bar, François, "The Construction of Marketplace Architecture" in Tracking a Transformation: E-commerce and the Terms of Competition in Industries, The BRIE-IGCC E-conomy Project Task Force on the Internet, eds., Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2001.(pp. 27-49) [PDF]
  
• François Bar, "Information Infrastructure and the Transformation of Manufacturing", inThe New Information Infrastructure. pp. 55-74 [in the reader]
  
  Optional:
• G.J. Mulgan, Communication and Control, The Guilford Press, 1991. Chap11: "Transnational Corporate Networks" pp 220-242 [in the reader]
• Pam Samuelson and Hal Varian, "The "New Economy" and Information Technology Policy", Prepared "Economic Policy During the Clinton Administration", held at JFK School of Government, Harvard University, June 27-30, 2001 (published July 18, 2001) [PDF]

The National Information Infrastructure (NII) debate and the Telecommunications Act of 1996
[slides]

• Technologies of Freedom, Chapter 9: "Policies for Freedom" [in the reader]
  
• The Gordian Knot, Chapter 6
• Kapor, "Where Is the Digital Highway Really Heading? The Case for a Jeffersonian Information Policy ", Wired Magazine, July/August 1993.
  [download]
• Economides, "US Telecommunications Today", April 1999 [PDF]
  
  Optional:
  
• George Gilder, "The Coming of the Fibersphere", Forbes ASAP, December 7, 1992 [download]
• The Telecommunications Act of 1996 and its Impact, by Nicholas Economides, Discussion Paper EC-98-08, Stern School of Business, N.Y.U. [Abstract] [Acrobat ~154Kb] (you can skim section 4.2 on ECPR and M-ECPR)

The Internet - history and evolution
[slides]

• Jeffrey K. MacKie-Mason and Hal R. Varian, Economic FAQs About the Internet, June 1996 [PDF]
• "What Is The Internet (And What Makes It Work)", Robert E. Kahn and Vinton G. Cerf (December, 1999)
• Kevin Werbach, "Digital Tornado: The Internet and Telecommunications Policy", March 1997, OPP working paper #29, Federal Communication Commission [download]
  
  Optional:
• Hart, J., R. Reed and F. Bar, "The Building of the Internet: Implications for the Future of Broadband Networks." Telecommunications Policy, v 16, n. 8 (November 1992), pp 666-689. [in the reader]

The current Telecom landscape
[slides]

• Michael K. Powell (Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission), “Digital Broadband Migration”, Press Conference - October 23, 2001. (read the text, and/or watch the video -- which includes the Q&A after the first 20 minutes)
• The Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the Changing Communications Landscape (Benton Foundation)
  
  Optional:
• Bar, François, and Christian Sandvig, "Rules from Truth: Post-Convergence Policy for Access", paper presented at the 28th Annual Telecommunications Policy Research Conference, Arlington VA, Sept 23-25, 2000. [PDF]

The Policy implications of End-to-End
[slides]

• Jerome H. Saltzer, David P. Reed, and David D. Clark. "End-to-End Arguments in System Design.", Second International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (April 1981) pages 509-512 [PDF]
• David Clark, Marjory Blumenthal, "Rethinking the Design of the Internet: The End-to-end Arguments vs. the Brave New World", TPRC, Sept 2000 [PDF]

Interconnection and interoperability
[slides]

• Bar, François, Michael Borrus and Richard Steinberg,"Interoperability and the NII: Mapping the debate", Information Infrastructure and Policy, Vo. 4, No 4, 1995, pp. 235-254. [PDF - email fbar@stanford.edu for the password]
• Michael Kende, "The Digital Handshake: Connecting Internet Backbones", OPP working paper #32, September 2000, Federal Communication Commission [PDF, text]

Universal Service
[slides]

• Gregory L. Rosston and Bradley S. Wimmer, "The "State" of Universal Service", April 2000, SIEPR Policy paper No. 99-18 [PDF]
• Bar, François, and Annemarie Munk Riis, "Tapping User-Driven Innovation: A New Rationale for Universal Service", The Information Society, 16:1-10, 2000 [in the reader] [also PDF, email fbar@stanford.edu for access]

Local broadband and open access
[slides]

• James Speta, "The Vertical Dimension of Cable Open Access", 71 Colo. L. Rev. 975 (2000) [PDF]

• Bar, François, Stephen Cohen, Peter Cowhey, Brad DeLong, Michael Kleeman, and John Zysman, "Access and Innovation Policy for the Third-Generation Internet", Telecommunication Policy, Volume 24, Nos. 6/7 (July/August 2000). [PDF - Reprinted from Telecommunication Policy, Copyright 2000, with permission from Elsevier Science - single copies of the article can be downloaded and printed for the reader's personal research and study]