OIAexperts

Open Infrastructure Alliance
Press Release

Experts on the Broadband Opportunity Plan for New York State
 

  • Tom Allibone
  • Peter Cattaneo
  • Gordon Cook
  • Bob Frankston
  • John Friedman, Esq.
  • Fred Goldstein
  • David Isenberg
  • Bruce Kushnick
  • Dean Landsman
  • Kate Lynch
  • W. Scott McCullough, Esq.
  • Jerry Michalski
  • Joe Plotkin
  • David Rosen
  • Dana Spiegel
  • Tim Wu
  • Tom Allibone,
  • Tom Allibone, President of LTC Consulting, is the Director of Teletruth’s Auditing Division. He has been a telecommunications professional with over 38 years experience. Prior to founding LTC Consulting in 1989, Tom worked for New Jersey Bell and AT&T as a systems consultant and National Account Manager, starting in 1970. Tom is an AT&T ‘legacy’ as his grandfather and father (and his wife) all worked for AT&T and the Bell System.Tom has led Teletruth’s auditing capabilities which has resulted in the settlement of 2 class action suits against Verizon, New Jersey, as well as telecom auditing resulting in over $20 milloin in refunds. Tom was a member of the FCC Consumer Advisory Committee, and featured in the Emmy-nominated Bill Moyer PBS “The Net at Risk.”

     

  • Peter Cattaneo  has been a technologist since the 1970’s when he worked for Intermetrics. From 1997 through 2006, Peter was the Director of Java Card Business and Solutions, for Sun Microsystems, Inc, which included issues of security and ‘smart cards’ Prior to that, Peter worked at Genoa Systems doing enhanced computer boards and Thomson Consumer Products, Worldwide. Peter attended MIT.
  • Gordon Cook, The Cook Report has been involved in the computer and telecommunications industry since the 1960’s. A former Senior Analyst US Congress Office of Technology Assessment, 1990-1992, since that time he has been the Editor and Publisher of The COOK Report on Internet Protocol. The newsletter and active listserve covers a wide range of issues, from fiber optic deployments throughout the world, to applications such as VOIP and telecommunications reform.
  • John Friedman, Esq. is an attorney and law professor specializing in telecommunications and technology law. John has over 24 years of experience in the telecommunications industry in legal, operational, finance and technology roles, with extensive experience in domestic and international transactional and regulatory issues. This unique combination of business and legal expertise enables him to provide a depth of operational, transactional and regulatory advice simply unavailable from traditional law firms and consultancies. In addition to his practice, John is a member of the adjunct faculty of the Hofstra University School of Law where he teaches telecommunications law, policy and economics. An expert in the universal service system, John served for three years as a board member, treasurer and secretary of the New York State Targeted Accessibility Fund which administers and funds New York’s universal service programs.
  • Bob Frankston, Industry Analyst and Futurist  founded Software Arts in 1979 with Dan Bricklin to develop and sell VisiCalc. VisiCalc was the first electronic spreadsheet program and remained a widely used program for personal computers for many years. Awards include PC Magazine’s “Lifetime Achievement Award,” Esquire Magazine, “The Best of the New Generation”.
  • Fred Goldstein, Industry analyst  has over a quarter-century of experience in the telecommunications industry, offering consulting services designed to make competition work in the telecommunications, Internet, cable, wireless and information technology sectors. He is the author of “The Great Telecom Meltdown”, published by Artech in 2005. He has provided expert testimony before several state regulatory agencies, courts, and the Federal Communications Commission, on behalf of Competitive Local Exchange Carriers and other competitive service providers, primarily focusing on the technical and economic impact of interconnection agreements and intercarrier compensation.
  • David Isenberg  started his technology career, working at the premier AT&T Bell Labs until 1997, when “The Rise of the Stupid Networks was published. Since that time he has been a independent analyst, a fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society in 2005, and running the cutting edge technology and telecommunications, broadband and Internet conference: “Freedom To Connect”.
  • Bruce Kushnick,
  • Executive Director, New Networks Institute, Chairman, Teletruth ,  has been a respected telecommunications analyst and visionary for over 25 years. New Networks Institute was formed in 1992, and is a founding member of Teletruth since 2002.
  • From 2003-2004, Teletruth was a member of the FCC Consumer Advisory Committee. In 2006, “$200 Billion Broadband Scandal” was released and was featured on the Emmy-nominated PBS Special, “The Net At Risk”. Bruce Kushnick is currently a contributor to Harvard’s Nieman Foundation for Journalism’s Watchdog Project. Bruce Kushnick holds a BA in Music Composition, and was a special graduate Student at MIT’s Division for the Study in Research and Education (now part of the Media Lab) and Harvard.
  • Dean Landsman is a Media, Marketing and Communications professional, enabling successful delivery and transmission and distribution of information. This can be content, messages, ideas, promotion, entertainment, inter-departmental data, or simply conveying an intended message, thought or idea, from one source to another. That can be one to one, one to many, or in participatory or collaborative efforts, many to many. Dean’s work includes program development, market research, promotional and introductory implementation.
  • Kate Lynch, President, Bway.net
  • http://www.bway.netKate Lynch is the president of Bway.net, a woman-owned, independent, New York state-based broadband Internet provider. Bway.net was founded in February of 1995 with the goal of providing the highest quality Internet service for the residents of New York City. Bway.net has since expanded our geographic boundaries, but has remained committed to excellence and to the philosophy that first inspired us: we are pro-privacy, anti-censorship, pro-open source and still believe that the Internet might just change the world. Kate is also the President of the NIA, National Internet Alliance, and has been active as part of Teletruth’s Board of Advisors.

 

  • W. Scott Mc Collough, Esq.
  • http://www.smccollough.com/W. Scott Mc Collough’s focus of practice has been on public law, including consumer; civil and voting rights; procurement; telecommunications, electric and gas utilities; administrative law; economic regulation; consulting; governmental relations; and, instruction and training in those areas to individuals, groups, companies and governmental agencies. Clients include several competitive telecommunications companies and Internet service providers. Contract Consumer Advocate (representing residential and small business consumers) with City of Austin Electric Utility (1994-1999). Regulatory Counsel for Texas ISDN Users Group and Texas Internet Service Providers Association.From 1984-1994, Represented State of Texas before regulatory agencies with jurisdiction over gas, telephone, water and electric utilities, and on appeal. Assisted and advised state agencies and local 9-1-1 emergency service providers in utility and network planning, purchasing, operation and interconnection. Represented agencies in billing and rating disputes with utilities. Served as regulatory counsel for General Services Commission and regulatory and general counsel for Advisory Commission on State Emergency Communications. Past Member, State Cogeneration Council and Relay Texas Advisory Council.
  • Jerry Michalski, President, Sociate
  • http://www.sociate.com/ Since 1998, Jerry has been an independent consultant, doing business as Sociate, a name he coined because he is skilled at associating ideas and people, and also because he believes that the social changes that we are going through as a result of all the new connectivity (e.g., Internet, cell phones, inexpensive cameras, podcasting) will be more profound than the structural and economic changes we have already seen. Jerry works with some larger companies such as UBS, Target and Boeing; nimbler players such as IDEO and McKinsey; educational institutions such as the Wharton Executive Education program; and non-profits such as the Institute for the Future and the Deliberative Democracy Consortium.

    Jerry also acts as a technology advisor to startups ranging from TheBrain.com to Socialtext and Seedwiki. During the dot-boom days, Jerry was an advisor to eGroups (now YahooGroups) and Pyra (now Blogger, part of Google).

    For the five years before he founded Sociate, Jerry was the Managing Editor of Release 1.0, Esther Dyson’s monthly newsletter, and co-host of the annual PC Forum. For the five years before that, Jerry was an industry analyst and research service director with New Science Associates, which was later bought by Gartner Group. Jerry earned an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA in Economics from UC Irvine.

  • Joe Plotkin, DSL/Marketing, Bway.net, Board Member, NYCWireless.org
  • http://www.bway.netJoe Plotkin is a marketing specialist and advocate in broadband, Internet, VOIP and wireless technologies. Working for an independent ISP in New York, Bwaynet, Joe is also on the Board of Teletruth, and the NYC Wireless Association. Joe has worked on Teletruth projects, including working with Congressmen Nadler on the creation of the proposed piece of legislation, “The Broadband Bill of Rights”, and worked with the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy to create a “Roundtable” for Internet Providers and Small Business Issues.

 

  • David Rosen, Technologist and Content Specialist.
  • [email protected]David Rosen has well established careers in various areas of technology and its merger with content. Since 2005, David was vice president, corporate development for ComCam International, which introduced some of the first wireless video networks; technology used by US government agencies and private corporations in security sector; From 2002 through 2004, David was founder and executive producer of Digital Independence, a forum of creativity, technology and democracy; supported by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations. Prior to that, David consulted to many telephone companies and computer/gaming manufacturers. From 1980-1985, David was Project Director, Educational Services for PBS/Thirteen, offering TV-based courses for adult learners based on British Open University model;
  • Dana Spiegel – NYC Wireless, President and Executive Director http://www.nycwireless.net/Dana Spiegel is an independent software consultant and founder of sociableDESIGN, a software and consulting firm that specializes in social software and wireless technology research and development. He has worked with industry leading companies and small start-ups including Yahoo!, Nike, Primedia, IBM, OnForce, and Bloostone to develop products and programs that utilize innovative social software and integrate new wireless technologies. He has also appeared as a speaker at Wireless and Media Industry conferences, and has guest lectured at NYU, SUNY Purchase, Parsons School of Design, and The New School University. Dana holds a Bachelors Degree in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from MIT and a Masters Degree in Media Arts and Sciences from the MIT Media Laboratory’s Sociable Media Group.

 

  • Tim Wu
  • http://www.timwu.org/Tim Wu is a professor at Columbia Law School. He is the co-author of Who Controls the Internet? (Oxford U. Press 2006), and a writer for Slate Magazine. In 2006 Wu was recognized as one 50 leaders in science and technology by Scientific American magazine, and in 2007 Wu was listed as one of Harvard’s 100 most influential graduates by 02138 magazine. Tim Wu’s best known work is in the development of Net Neutrality theory, but he has also written about copyright, international trade, and the study of law-breaking. He previously worked for Riverstone Networks in the telecommunications industry in Silicon Valley, and was a law clerk for Judge Richard Posner and Justice Stephen Breyer. He graduated from McGill University (B.Sc), and Harvard Law School, and has taught at the University of Virginia, the University of Chicago, and Stanford Law School.