Net Neutrality and Georgia H.B. 509 (Repeat performance at Prototype Prime)

(Note: Crossposted as a courtesy to Prototype Prime. A fee of $1 is required but parking is free. Register and pay here: https://grokventures.wufoo.com/forms/eff-prototype-prime-45/)

Join us for a discussion on Net Neutrality and Georgia H.B. 509 lead by Mitch Stoltz, Senior Staff Attorney, of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Net neutrality - the rule that broadband providers must treat all Internet traffic equally - has a contentious history and an uncertain future. Rules passed by the Federal Communications Commission in 2015 with strong popular support prevent blocking or discrimination in Internet traffic. This year, the FCC and members of Congress have proposed repealing those rules. Join Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney Mitch Stoltz in a discussion of what Net Neutrality is and isn’t, what it means for technologists, and what might replace it.

Mitch will also talk about a bill the Georgia Legislature is now considering (H.R. 509) that would require every Internet-enabled device sold in the state to include “digital blocking capability” defined by the state. Mitch will lead a discussion about how technologists, students, and entrepreneurs can speak out about this dangerous bill and other bad Internet policy.

***
Mitch Stoltz is a Senior Staff Attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Mitch works on cases where free speech and innovation collide with copyright and telecommunications law. His current projects include improving the legal environment for mobile software developers and tinkerers, fighting the use of copyright as a tool for censorship, litigation on the copyright status of mandatory safety codes, and legal analysis in the field of Internet television and video. Mitch also counsels clients on Internet video technology and open source software licensing.

Before joining EFF, Mitch was an associate at Constantine Cannon LLP in Washington DC. Long ago, in an Internet far far away, Mitch was Chief Security Engineer for the Mozilla Project at Netscape Communications (later AOL). As a child, he spent summers chasing lightning bugs in his grandparents' Atlanta backyard and feeding a passion for technology at Fernbank Science Center.