Where Network Intelligence Meets Public Policy

With huge infrastructure investments and consumer subsidies becoming widely available, accurate metrics and insights to identify areas of greatest need will be more critical than ever. While shortcomings of the current data are widely known, alternative crowd-sourced data collection methodologies that are open-source, transparent, accurate, reliable, and scalable are elusive and met with opposition from special interests. This track examines possibilities and solutions from all sides.

Demystifying the Data - November 16, 11 a.m.–12 p.m.

While individual companies around the world have access to performance data about our global networks, that data is a closely guarded secret, not available to state, local, and county policy makers or to consumer advocates and buyers. We also must achieve balance in gathering information about Internet coverage, bandwidth offered, latency, and other key characteristics at the household and even individual level without impacting personal privacy and security.

The session will address issues including:

• What are the existing data collection and mapping initatives and the needs they are best suited to fulfill?
• What are the issues with existing data?
• How can we create a normative way for policy makers, digital inclusion advocates, and government offices to make the most impactful and data-driven investment decisions?

How Should Data Inform Policy and Funding Priorities? - November 17, 11 a.m.–12 p.m.

Eligibility for federal funding and subsidies is based on the data that is used and the way the policies are structured. Technological advances, combined with collective calls for social justice, require new ways of looking at data and policy.

Issues to be discussed include:

• Different models for spectrum sharing and how viable they are for solving policy issues
• The role of data transparency in governing public money to understand spending impact
• How security and privacy must be designed into data collection efforts

Crowdsourcing Network Data at Scale - November 18, 2–3 p.m.

Whatever policy and data solutions end up prevailing, underlying information must still be collected from countless locations and devices in a way that is effortless, secure, and reliable. This massive data collection will need to distinguish between access problems and home WiFi issues, be understandable by policy makers, consumers, and digital inclusion advocates, and adhere to ethics and privacy best practices. This panel will examine the consumer scenarios and technical opportunities for simple and/or crowd-sourced network data collection at scale.