[RTC List] General Membership Meeting, Thursday, 9/13, 5:30 at HCOE

[Kitty Yancheff]

Greetings RTC members and list readers! ~ welcome back from all your summer activities.  We now return to business with our a general membership meeting on Thursday from 5:30 to 7 p.m., in the Sequoia Room at the Humboldt County Office of Education, 901 Myrtle Ave., Eureka.

John McBrearty, RTC Board Member and information security officer at Humboldt State University, will present an overview of “The Current State of Net Neutrality — and Why It Matters.”

“Net neutrality” is a current catchphrase for the different visions of how the Internet should develop — either preserving it as a mainly public byway that is equally accessible to all, or allowing telecommunications companies to begin staking out ownership and charging fees for added value items such as faster access or greater bandwidth across the pathways they control, according to an RTC news release.

Under the Bush administration, the Federal Trade Commission has noted that it sees no particular value in assuring net neutrality, and the Federal Communications Commission recently closed off public comments in its own deliberations on whether net neutrality should be of any concern. In recent years Congress has also introduced various bills and amendments attempting either to assure net neutrality or to abandon it, the release stated.

McBrearty is expected to give an update on some of the current political issues during the present lull and offer an idea of what to expect as the issue heats up again during the next congressional cycle. He notes that he will try to be fair, but does not promise to be “neutral” in his comments. 
   
  Looking forward to seeing you all again!
   
  Kitty Yancheff
  RTC Administrative Director
  

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