MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY-MAKING IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Producers Guild of America
New Media Council East

Presents the
2008-2009 Panel and Salon Series

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

7pm – 9pm

MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY-MAKING IN THE 21ST CENTURY:
BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS, IT WILL BE OBSOLETE

The convergence of media and technology in the 21st century has led to such accelerated pace of change in the behaviors of consumers that both content producers and device manufacturers have had to adapt in nothing less than a paradigm-shift-per-day schedule. The men and women who help shape government policy for the U.S. media industry are facing enormous challenges in the development of regulations and frameworks for an industry whose audience has seemingly more control than ever before.

With a new administration entering the White House in January, 2009, and the looming February 17, 2009 digital t.v. switch-over upon us, the landscape for new media is exploding with opportunity – and potential policy headaches galore. From the future of the Internet and Net neutrality to open source development and content syndication and the battle over digital copyright, the environment in which content producers find themselves today is more weighted with intellectual property questions and policy issues than ever before.

The Producers Guild of America New Media Council East presents a snap-shot of the future of media policy, and the coming changes in Washington’s outlook on the role that new technology plays in media, with some of this country’s leading technology policy experts, including:

Eli M. Noam, Professor of Economics and Finance at Columbia Business School

Eli Noam has been Professor of Economics and Finance at Columbia Business School since 1976. In 1990, after having served for three years as Commissioner with the New York State Public Service Commission, he returned to Columbia. He is the Director of the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information. CITI is an independent university-based research center focusing on strategy, management, and policy issues in telecommunications, computing, and electronic mass media. Noam has published over 19 books and 400 articles in economic journals, law reviews, and interdisciplinary journals. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Justin Hughes, Professor of Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
Professor Hughes teaches intellectual property (IP) and international trade at Cardozo School of Law in New York. Formerly a policy expert in the U.S. Department of Commerce (USPTO), his areas of expertise include domestic and international copyright, Internet and new technologies as they relate to intellectual property, trademarks, geographical indications, WTO and TRIPS issues, and intellectual property in developing countries. As Chairman of the Thomson Foundation for Film and Television Heritage, based in Paris, he is active in audiovisual preservation and conservation efforts. At Cardozo, Professor Hughes has been director of the law school’s intellectual property program since 2004.

Jonathan Askin, Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
Jonathan Askin is a Professor at Brooklyn Law School, teaching Telecommunications, New Media and Internet Law. Jonathan is also the Founder and Director of the Brooklyn Law Incubator and Policy Clinic, designed to represent and advocate on behalf of Internet and new media startups and causes. Jonathan is also a communications, Internet and media attorney and consultant, representing clients on strategic business development and policy advocacy.
Jonathan is a recognized advocate, lobbyist and thought-leader for the competitive telecommunications, new media and Internet industries. He has sat on the boards of many recognized industry bodies, including the Universal Service Administrative Company and the North American Numbering Council.

Ray Beckerman, Partner, Ray Beckerman, PC
Ray Beckerman is the president of Ray Beckerman, PC, practicing complex commercial and copyright litigation. Additionally, he supervises litigations and other proceedings taking place in other geographical areas, advises businesses and not-for-profits, incorporates start-up entities, negotiates contracts, and assists in obtaining copyrights and trademarks.
In 2004 Ray became a 'blogger', first creating the blog "Ohio Election Fraud" relating to the 2004 presidential election in Ohio. In 2005 he created the blog "Recording Industry vs. The People," (http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com) which collects information about the copyright infringement litigations prosecuted by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) against owners of internet access accounts that are linked to peer-to-peer file sharing.

Moderator: Chris Pfaff, President, Chris Pfaff Tech/Media LLC; board delegate, PGA New Media Council
A board delegate of the PGA New Media Council since 2006, and a PGA NMC member since 2004, Chris Pfaff leads a consultancy – Chris Pfaff Tech/Media LLC – that represents some of the leading service providers, audio/video technology firms, networking vendors, and media companies in the world, from PRIMEDIA and Eastman Kodak to Cantor Telecom. A veteran of the venture world, Chris helped launch more than 20 ventures from the Lucent New Ventures Group, including iBiquity Digital; Flarion; Lucent Digital Video, and GeoVideo Networks, among others. In addition, he has helped launch AT&T’s Internet strategy; the Viacom New Media division of Viacom, Inc.; Sony Electronics’ Digital Betacam format, and Sharp Electronics’ LCD product division.

The New School
Theresa Lang Community and Student Center
55 West 13th Street, 2nd floor
between 5th an 6th Avenues, NYC
www.newschool.edu

Space is limited so an RSVP for this event is required. This is PGA Member event ONLY!

If you are interested in joining to attend this event and other great events please visit the PGA New Media Council http://www.pganewmedia.org

Previous events from our 2005-2008 event series can be accessed in both webcast and podcast format at: http://www.scribemedia.org/pga

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