Euro Economist speech on communications and public safety

Begin forwarded message:

From: Kenneth Cukier <[email protected]>
Date: November 6, 2006 7:33:18 PM EST
To: Dave Farber <[email protected]>
Subject: speech on communications and public safety

Dave,

Hope all goes well.

I recently gave a speech to European regulators entitled "The  
Internet, Regulation, the Private Sector and Public Safety" that may  
be of interest to people on the IP list.

In short, it calls upon regulators to ensure that communication  
networks are accessible to the public in times of emergencies (rather  
than repeat what happened during the London bombings in 2005, when a  
mobile operator actually shut its network to the public under orders  
from the police, which hampered the rescue efforts).

Considering how important BlackBerries and mobiles were on 9/11, and  
the fact that the authorities have sillily deactivated mobile  
networks in some tunnels into New York for fear of terrorism, it is  
clearly a pressing issue that deserves a broad public debate. In the  
speech, I explain what is distinctive about the Internet, the  
challenge before telecoms regulators, how the market and private  
sector can further public-policy objectives, and what lessons this  
suggest for communications and public safety. It's at:

HTML version: http://www.cukier.com/writings/cept-remarks-Oct06.html
PDF version: http://www.cukier.com/writings/cukier-cept-Oct06.pdf

Thanks and best,

Kenn

Kenneth Neil Cukier
The Economist
25 St. James's Street
London  SW1A 1HG
United Kingdom
Direct line: +44 207 576 1074
Email: [email protected]