TPRC48

February 17 - 19, 2021, Virtual Conference

Program overview

Times are Eastern Time.

Wednesday, February 17, 2021

9:45 am. Welcome to a Virtual Conference

10:00 am Paper Sessions (Click here for listing of Papers)

12:00 pm   The Future of the Internet, a conversation with the Honorable Michael K. Powell, former Chairman, Federal Communications Commission (2001-2005 Chair; 1997-2001 Commissioner) and President and CEO, NCTA-The Internet and Television Association, moderated by Nicol Turner Lee, TPRC Board Chair, Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, and Director, Center for Technology Innovation, Brookings Institution (Confirmed)  1:00 pm    

Panel Sessions

• Is US-China Trade in Telecoms and Information Compatible with National Security?

• Connecting the Underconnected in a 5G and Beyond World

2:00 pm     Fireside Chat with Ghazi Ahamat, Senior Policy Advisor, Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation U.K. and co-author of CDEI report, Review into bias in algorithmic decision-ma king and Robin Mansell

 3:00 pm    Author Talk: Safiya Noble, Associate Professor of Information Studies and Co-Director of the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Department of Information Studies and author, Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism (NYU Press) and Nicol Turner Lee

3:45 pm. Closing followed by Networking

Thursday, February 18, 2021

9:45 am. Welcome to a Virtual Conference

10:00 am Paper Sessions (Click here for listing of Papers)

 12:00 pm   Fireside chat with former Chair Ajit Pai, Federal Communications Commission: A conversation with the Honorable Ajit Pai, former Chairman, Federal Communications Commission (2017-2021 Chair and Commissioner 2012-2017) moderated by Scott Wallsten, TPRC Board Treasurer, President and Senior Fellow, TPI

12:30 pm Awards Ceremony including Student Paper Awards and Charles Benton Early Career Scholar Award

1:00 pm Graduate Student Symposium by the Internet Governance Lab, American University

  1:30 pm     Panel Sessions

• Resilience as a Goal of Information and Communication Policy: A Reassessment and Outlook

• The Researcher’s Guide to the Digital Inclusion Galaxy: Designing and Using Data from the NTIA Internet Use Survey

  2:30 pm    TPRC48 TOWN HALL: Free speech, societal harmony, and media diversity: pick two with Johannes Bauer, Michigan State University, and Eli Noam, Columbia Business School; Panelists: Nadine Strossen, American Civil Liberties Union, L. Jean Camp, Indiana University, Olivier Sylvain, Fordham University, Thomas W. Hazlett, Clemson University

4:00 pm. Closing and Networking Session

5:00 pm. Trivia Night with Gigi Sohn

Friday, February 19, 2021 

9:45 am. Welcome to a Virtual Conference

10:00 am Paper Sessions (Click here for listing of Papers)
Panel

• Tackling the Digital Divide: What We’ve Learned, Where to Go

 12:00 pm   Keynote Panel: 25 Years after the Telecommunications Act of 1996: What's next in tech and telecom policies. 25 years after the passage of the Telecom Act of 1996, and how far have we come in the deployment, adoption, and use of advanced communications. How wide has the digital divide become, and what areas of the Act need to be further explored. This discussion of leaders with intimate knowledge of communications policies will provide their feedback in a conversation moderated by Jon Gant, TPRC Vice Chair, and Dean and Professor, School of Library and Information Sciences, North Carolina Central University

  1:00 pm     Panel Sessions

• National Broadband Plan at 10: Lessons Learned and Should There Be Another?

• Communications Networks and the COVID-19 Pandemic

   2:00 pm     Poster Session

   3:00 pm    What to Expect for Tech in the Biden-Harris Administration. Panel discussion moderated by Scott Wallsten, President and CEO, TPI with former FCC Commissioner and Acting Chair Mignon Clyburn (2009-2018), Rob Atkinson, President and CEO, ITIF, Gigi Sohn, Benton Senior Fellow

3:45 pm. Closing

All sessions will be recorded and available to register conference attendees to view as time allows.

Networking “rooms” are available throughout the conference for small group networking, private meetings or just hanging out!

Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Paper Sessions

10:00 am Eastern Time

Mobile

Moderator: Silvia Elaluf Calderwood, Strand Consult

• Mobile Market Performance and Market Structure in Europe During the 4G Era, Serafino Abate, GSMA Intelligence; Pau Castells, GSMA; and Kalvin Bahia, GSMA

• Mobile Internet Usage and Usage Based Pricing, Jeffrey Prince, Indiana University and Shane M. Greenstein, Harvard Business School

• An Econometric Analysis of the Effects of Mobile Termination Rates on the Telecom Services Market in a Developing Country: Evidence from Microdata, Alexandre Nshunguyinka, Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority; Obed Shema, Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority; and Martin Saint, Carnegie Mellon University

Openness

Moderator: Sean Mickens, Facebook

• Detecting the Spread Propaganda Bias Online: Comparing HAN and BERT Models, Sarah Stueve, University of Arizona; and Laura Werthmann, University of Arizona

• The DMCA, Database Protection, and Right to Repair: The Long Tail of Public Interest Activism in the First Digital Copyright Decade, Bryan Bello, American University and Patricia Aufderheide, American University 

• Access Shrugged: The Decline of the Copyleft and the Rise of Instrumental Openness Aram Sinnreich, American University and Saif Shahin, American University

• Shaping (Non)-Discursive Social Media Spaces: Typologies of news organizations’ heavy commenters in Germany and U.S., Lea Hellmueller, University of Houston; Juliane Lischka, University of Zurich; and Edda Humprecht, University of Zurich

Broadband

Moderator: Randolph May, Free State Foundation

• The FCC’s High-Cost Programs, Rural Broadband Penetration & Rural Broadband Service Quality, Michael Kotrous, Meratus Center and Brent Skorup, Mercatus Center

• State Broadband Policy: Impacts on Availability, Brian Whitacre, Oklahoma State University and Roberto Gallardo, Purdue Center for Regional Development

• The Ideological Stakes of Rural Broadband in Georgia, Ian Dunham, Kennesaw State University

• What $2.5 Billion Can Buy: An Evaluation of the Broadband Initiatives Program, Yang Bai, Pennsylvania State University; Ryan Y. Wang, Pennsylvania State University and Krishna Jayakar, Pennsylvania State University

COVID

• Social Distancing and the Internet: What Can Network Performance Measurements Tell Us? Jessica De Oliveira Moreira, Columbia University; Amey Pasarkar, Columbia University; Wenjun Chen, Columbia University; Wenkai Hu, Columbia University; Jan Janak, Columbia University; and Henning Schulzrinne, Columbia University

• The Macro-Economics of Crypto-Currencies: The Role of Private Moneys in a Post-Corona Monetary Policy, Eli Noam, Columbia University

Services

Moderator: Robin Mansell, London School of Economics

• Deploying Telemedicine in Capacity Constrained Contexts: Lessons from the Vanuatu Inter-island Telemedicine and Learning Project, Sharada Srinivasan, University of Pennsylvania

• GAFA’s Information Infrastructure Distribution: Implications for the Global South, Fernanda R. Rosa, University of Pennsylvania and Janice A. Hauge, University of North Texas

• Divergences in Procedural Accountability: Comparative Analysis on Social Media Political Speech Regulation in the United States, Germany, South Korea, and Taiwan, So Yun Ahn, University of Southern California; Jeeyun Sophia Baik, University of Southern California; Ho-Chun Herbert Chang, University of Pennsylvania; and Clara Sol Krause, University of Southern California

11:00 am Eastern Time

Policy

Moderator: Edward Carlson, NTIA

• Japan’s New Framework for Net Neutrality: The Journey So Far and Future Challenges, Toshiya Jitsuzumi, Chuo University

• Digital Platforms and Innovation: Lessons for Innovation Policy and Regulation, Johannes M. Bauer, Michigan State University; and Tiago S. Prado, Michigan State University

• Institutional Challenges of Technology Change: What Can Indonesia Tell Us 10 Years After DSO Policy Was Initiated? Moinul Zaber, University of Dhaka, United Nations University and Ibrahim Rohman, University of Indonesia

Broadband

Moderator: Mark Walker, CableLabs

• Broadband Speeds in Fibered Markets: An Empirical Analysis, Michael Kotrous, George Mason University and James Bailey, Providence College

• Technological Innovation and Quality Improvement in US Broadband, Kenneth Flamm, University of Texas at Austin and Pablo Varas, University of Texas at Austin

• Survey of the US Small and Medium Providers in the Residential Broadband Internet: New Sampling Approaches, Boris Houenou, Viasat Inc and Steve Lanning, Viasat Inc

• Prospects for Competition in the Provision of Internet Access Services Over Broadband Local Access Networks, David Reed, University of Colorado at Boulder

Digital Divide

Moderator: Peter Stenberg, GMU

• Internet Connectivity Among Indigenous and Tribal Communities in North America - A Focus on Social and Educational Outcomes, Leon Gwaka, University of Pennsylvania; Christopher Yoo, University of Pennsylvania; and Muge Haseki, University of Pennsylvania 

• Entrepreneurship in Minority Areas: The Roles of Broadband Availability and Financial Constraints, James Prieger, Pepperdine University

• When Being Connected is Not Enough. An Analysis of the Second and Third Levels of the Digital Divide in a Developing Country, Erezi Ogbo, Carnegie Mellon University; Tim Brown, Carnegie Mellon University; Jon Gant, North Carolina Central University and Douglas Sicker, University of Colorado at Denver, University of Colorado at Boulder

• Public Subsidies and Price Discrimination in Differentiated Oligopoly: Evidence from the Lifeline Extension to High-Speed Internet, Samara Mendez, The Humane LEague Labs; Gabor Molnar, University of Colorado at Boulder; and Scott Savage, University of Colorado at Boulder

FCC

Moderator: Jonathan Levy

• Telecommunications Policy, Regulation, and Enforcement: A 20 Year Retrospective of FCC Adjudication, J Stephanie Rose, University of Pittsburgh

• The Post Roads Act of 1866: The Story of the Dawn of Communications Regulatory Policy, Bob Cannon

• The Moral Hazard of Lax FCC Land Use Oversight for Advanced Network Infrastructure, Benjamin W. Cramer, Pennsylvania State University

Mobile

Moderator: Petrus Potgieter, University of South Africa

• Policy Choices Can Help Keep Universal Broadband Targets Affordable: A Spatial Model of 4G and 5G Roll-Out in Developing Countries, Edward Oughton, George Mason University; Niccoló Comini, World Bank; Vivien Foster, World Bank; Jim Hall, University of Oxford

• 5G Network Neutrality in Brazil: Novel Technological Challenges to the Brazilian Civil Rights Framework for the Internet, Alexandre Moraes, Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações

Thursday, February 18, 2021

Paper Sessions

10:00 am Eastern Time

Platforms

Moderator: Sally Broughton Micova, University of East Anglia

• Assessing the Market Power of Digital Platforms, Tiago S. Prado, Michigan State University

• How Much is Privacy Worth Around the World and Across Platforms? Jeffrey Prince, Indiana University and Scott Wallsten, Technology Policy Institute

• Data for Prominence on Dominant Online Platforms, Marc Bourreau, Telecom Paris; Janina Hofmann, University of Passau; and Jan Krämer, University of Passau 

Digital Divide

Moderator: Heather Hudson, University of Alaska

• Rural Measures: A Quantitative Study of the Rural Digital Divide, Angela Hollman, University of Nebraska at Kearney; Tim Obermier, University of Nebraska at Kearney; Paul Burger, University of Nebraska at Kearney and Adam Spanier, University of Nebraska at Kearney

• Repercussions of Poor Broadband Connectivity for Students in Rural and Small Town Michigan, Keith Hampton, Michigan State University; Laleah Fernandez, Michigan State University; Craig Robertson, Michigan State University and Johannes M. Bauer, Michigan State University

• Mapping the Digital Divide: Before, During, and After COVID-19, Francesco Bronzino, India; Nick Feamster, University of Chicago; Shinan Liu, University of Chicago; James Saxon, University of Chicago; Paul Schmitt, Princeton University

Security

Moderator: Andy Sayler, Twitter

• Evaluating Security Implications of Spectrum Allocation in Licensed and Unlicensed Use: 5G vs. Wi-Fi, Roslyn Layton, Aalborg University and David Witkowski, Oku Solutions LLC

• Behind the Veil of Decentralization: Analyzing Blockchain Frames and Sponsors in US News, Asvatha Babu, American University

• Trust Zones: A Path to a More Secure Internet Infrastructure, David D. Clark, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Kc Claffy, University of California San Diego

Artificial Intelligence

Moderator: Alex Engler, Brookings Institute

• Indirect Enforcement of Artificial Intelligence ‘Soft Law,’ Gary E. Marchant, Arizona State University and Carlos Ignacio Gutierrez, Arizona State University

• AI-associated market failure: beyond learning to collude, Jonathan Cave, University of Warwick

• Harmonizing Regulatory Spheres to Overcome Challenges for Governance of Patient-Generated Health Data in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data, Jenifer Sunrise Winter, University of Hawaii at Manoa and Elizabeth J. Davidson, University of Hawaii at Manoa

• Immigration Policy and Competition in U.S. AI Development, Caleb Watney

5G

Moderator: Marcela Gomez, University of Pittsburgh

• What are the US Spectrum Auctions for 5G Teaching Us About Auction Efficiency? Fernando Beltrán, University of Auckland

• Network Value Drivers in a 5G World Coleman Bazelon, The Brattle Group; Paroma Sanyal, The Brattle Group; Jonathan Lee, The Brattle Group; Ezra Frankel, The Brattle Group; and Ryan Taylor, The Brattle Group

11:00 am Eastern Time

Platforms

Moderator: Kevin Werbach, University of Pennsylvania

• Social Media Platforms as Public Trustees: An Approach to the Disinformation Problem, Philip Napoli, Duke University and Fabienne Graf, Duke University

• The Social Value of a Ridesharing Platform, Christos Makridis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yong Paik, KAIST

• Open Government Data for Digital Services: Effects on Innovation, Competition, and Societal Benefits, Bastian Haberer, University of Passau and Daniel Schnurr, University of Passau

Video

Moderator: James Prieger, Pepperdine University

• There’s Probably a Blackout in Your Television Future: Tracking New Carriage Negotiation Strategies Between Video Content Programmers and Distributors, Rob Frieden, Pennsylvania State University; Krishna Jayakar, Pennsylvania State University and Eun-A Park, Western State Colorado University

• The Impact of OTT on Preferences for Mobile Services: A Conjoint Analysis of Mobile Users in Nigeria Erezi Ogbo, Carnegie Mellon University; Tim Brown, Carnegie Mellon University; Jon Gant, North Carolina Central University; Alexander L. Davis, Carnegie Mellon University and Douglas Sicker, University of Colorado at Boulder

• Blackouts in Retransmission Consent Negotiations: Empirical Analysis of Factors Predicting Their Frequency and Duration Euna Park, Western State Colorado University; Rob Frieden, Pennsylvania State University and Krishna Jayakar, Pennsylvania State University

Privacy

Moderator: Meg Leta Jones, Georgetown University

• Examining National Privacy Laws in the Context of International Trade Caitlin Chin, Georgetown University

• The Impact of the General Data Protection Regulation on Internet Interconnection, Ran Zhuo, Harvard University; Bradley Huffaker, University of California San Diego; kc Claffy, University of California San Diego and Shane Greenstein, Harvard Business School

Internet

Moderator: Roslyn Layton, Aalborg University

• Standardizing Security: Surveillance, Human Rights, and TLS 1.3, Milton Mueller, Georgia Institute of Technology and Colin Kiernan, Independent

• A Data-Driven Approach to Understanding the State of Internet Routing Security, Cecilia Testart, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and David D. Clark, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Changing Markets for Domain Names: Technical, Economic, and Policy Challenges William Lehr, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; David D. Clark, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Steve Bauer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Spectrum

Moderator: Michael Marcus, MIT

• Use it or Share It: A New Default Option for Spectrum Management Michael Calabrese, New America Foundation - Open Technology Institute

• Incumbent Informing Capability (IIC) for Time-Based Spectrum Sharing Michael DiFrancisco, NTIA; Charles Cooper, NTIA; and Edward Drocella, NTIA

• Evaluating the Potential of Spectrum Sharing in the Land Mobile Radio (LMR) Band Udayan Das, Illinois Institute of Technology; Vaishali Nagpure, Illinois Institute of Technology; and Cynthia Hood, Illinois Institute of Technology

• Toward automated Enforcement of Radio Interference, Pedro Bustamante, University of Pittsburgh; J Stephanie Rose, University of Pittsburgh; Debarun Das, Independent; Marcela Gomez, University of Pittsburgh; Martin B. H. Weiss, University of Pittsburgh; Jung-Min Park, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University; and Taieb Znati, Independent

Friday, February 19, 2021

Paper Sessions

10:00 am Eastern Time

Adoption

Moderator: Keyla Hernandez-Ulloa, FCC

• Disaggregating the Drivers of Mobile Technology Adoption: The Threat of Unobservable Gender Biases, Caroline Butler, GSMA Intelligence

• Exploring the Relationship Between Mobile Money Regulation and Usage, Kalvin Bahia, GSMA Intelligence; Maria Sánchez-Vidal, University of Barcelona; Pere A. Taberner, University of Barcelona, KSNET

• Impact of Broadband Penetration on U.S. Farm Productivity Katherine LoPiccalo, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Organization

Moderator: Jeff Prince, Indiana University

• Fixed Wireless Networks in the United States: Seven Case Studies Sharada Srinivasan, University of Pennsylvania and the World Bank Group; Christopher Yoo, University of Pennsylvania and Muge Haseki, University of Pennsylvania

• Sociotechnical Cooperatives: The Impact of Technology on Cooperative Organizations, Madelyn Sanfilippo, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, CITP, Princeton University and Tithi Chattopadhyay, Princeton University

• Smart Cities as Large Technological Systems: Collective Action Problems as Organizational Barriers to Urban Digital Transformation, Jared Mondschein, RAND Corporation; Aaron Clark-Ginsberg, RAND Corporation and Andreas Kuehn, East West Institute

• Public-Private Partnerships for Broadband Diffusion: a Comparison of EU Case Studies, Paolo Gerli, Northumbria University and Jason Whalley, University of Northumbria at Newcastle

Protocols

Moderator: Marjory Blumenthal, RAND

• When DNS Goes Dark: Understanding Privacy and Shaping Policy of an Evolving Protocol Vijay Gurbani, Illinois Institute of Technology; Cynthia Hood, Illinois Institute of Technology; Anita Nikolich, Illinois Institute of Technology; Henning Schulzrinne, Columbia University; and Radu State, University of Luxembourgh

• Exploring the Privacy Trade-Offs and Industry Impacts of DNS over HTTPS, Brenden Kuerbis, Georgia Institute of Technology

• Exploring the Intersection of Technology and Policy in the Future Internet Architecture Effort, Karen Sollins, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; William Lehr, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

Digital Divide

Moderator: Dhanarai Thakur, CDT

• Breaking through the Gender Digital Divide: Technology, Social Norms, and the WomenConnect Challenge, Revi Sterling, DAI; Lauren Grubbs, USAID; and Thomas Koutsky, USAID

• Employment and the Gender Digital Divide in Latin America: A Decomposition Analysis, Hernan Galperin, University of Southern California and Malena Arcidiacono, Independent, CEDLAS-UNLP

• The Welfare Effects of Mobile Broadband Internet: Evidence from Nigeria, Kalvin Bahia, GSMA Intelligence; Pau Castells, GSMA Intelligence; Carlos Rodríguez-Castelán, World Bank; Takaaki Masaki, World Bank; Genaro Cruz, GSMA Intelligence; Tobias Pfutze, Florida International University; Hernan Winkler, World Band; and Xavier Pedrós, GSMA Intelligence

• ICTs Use for Mitigting Social Exclusion in the Lives of Homeless Women, Hoan Nguyen, University of Southern California

Cybersecurity

Moderator: Rudy Brioché, Comcast

• THz Communications - a Boon and/or Bane for Security, Privacy, and National Security, Rohit Singh, University of Colorado at Denver and Douglas Sicker, University of Colorado at Boulder

• Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), Jay Jacobs, Cyentia; Sasha Romanosky, RAND Corporation, Carnegie Mellon University; Ben Edwards, Cyentia; Michael Roytman, Kenna Security; and Idris Adjerid, Pamplin College of Business

• Cybersecurity Capacity Building: Cross-National Benefits and International Divides, Sadie Creese, University of Oxford; William H. Dutton, University of Southern California, GCSCC Computer Science, University of Oxford; Patricia Esteve-Gonzalez, University of Oxford; and Ruth Shillair, Michigan State University

11:00 am Eastern Time

Privacy

Moderator: Jennifer Huddleston, American Action Forum

• Applying a Contextual Integrity Framework to Privacy Policies for Smart Technologies, Gwen Shaffer, California State University Long Beach

• Information Policy, Privacy Failings, and Steps Towards Empowerment in Cases of Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence, Megan Knittel, Michigan State University and Ruth Shillair, Michigan State University

• Early GDPR Penalties: Analysis of Implementation and Fines through May 2020 Josephine Wolff, Tufts University and Nicole Atallah, Tufts University

Anticompetitive Effects

Moderator: Gus Hurwitz, University of Nebraska

• Merger Analysis in the App Economy: An Empirical Model of Ad-Sponsored Media, Kohei Kawaguchi, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Toshifumi Kuroda, Tokyo Keizai University and Susumu Sato, Hitotsubashi University

• Throw the Book at Them: Why the FTC Needs to Get Tough with Influencers. Christopher Terry, University of Minnesota; Lee Silberberg, University of Minnesota and Stephen Schmitz, University of Minnesota

• Challenges to the Conventional Wisdom About Mergers and Consumer Welfare in a Converging Internet Marketplace, Rob Frieden, Pennsylvania State University

Politics

Moderator: Jane Coffin, Internet Society

• Internet Access and Cost and Its Impact on Citizens Engagement on E-Government Services, Fati Tahiru, Ho Technical University; Bismark Tei Asare, Ghana Communication Technology University; George Asante, Ghana Communication Technology University; and Samuel Agbesi, Aalborg University

• Is a Digital Nation a Voting Nation? Using Survey Data to Examine the Relationship Between Internet Use and Voting in the United States, Amy Robinson, Harvard Law University; Hannah Schaller, University of Virginia; Rafi Goldberg, NTIA; and Edward Carlson, Independent

• Political Factors that Enable an Internet Kill Switch in Democratic and Non-Democratic Regimes, Patricia Vargas-Leon, Yale University, The Fletcher School, Tufts University