New BroadBand Report
Download the "Broadband for All? A Consensus Conference on Municipal Broadband" report.
About the BBIC:
The BBIC is a public policy institute at the Santa Clara University School of Law specializing in applied research and education in the areas of law, technology and public policy. Through its research, publications and conferences, the BBIC seeks to identify, document, address and publicize the broadband and advanced network technology needs of California and the impact of state and federal policies on California’s needs.
Why the BBIC was Established:
California is in the midst of a critical transformation, driven by the expanding diversity of its population; the explosive growth of its high-tech sector; and the convergence of technology and competition in its telecommunications marketplace. These developments have placed California at the forefront of a social, political and technical evolutionary process that is sweeping the nation.
The developments are manifest in virtually every telecommunications issue before state and federal legislatures, commissions, and courts (e.g., network deployment, long distance market competition, regulation of IP enabled networks, defining and financing universal service, bridging the digital divide, and equitable network access).
Popular and policy discussions of these issues aren’t doing enough to recognize the growing importance of broadband networked communications to all aspects of Californians’ lives. Increasingly, Californians are conducting their political, financial, educational, employment and medical affairs via the network and the Internet. The inevitable statewide demand for high-speed broadband availability necessitates a far more concerted, critical, and sustained inquiry into the impact of economic, market, and policy choices regarding broadband networks.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of California’s citizen consumers are not well informed about the technologies that they increasingly rely upon, or the markets and laws that govern these technologies. The rapidity and complexity of technical, market and policy developments, the language used to describe and discuss them, and the remoteness of the fora in which market and regulatory policy is made, too often leave the citizen little understanding and little access.
The BBIC was established to help bridge the gap between the public and the state and federal policies governing their access to advanced network technologies.
