The Harvard Law School Library staff invite you to attend a book talk and discussion in celebration of the recent publication of FIBER: The Coming Tech Revolution—and Why America Might Miss It by Susan Crawford (Yale Univ. Press, Jan. 8, 2019). Professor Crawford is the John A. Reilly Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.
Wednesday, February 13, 2019, at noon
Harvard Law School WCC Milstein West B (Directions)
1585 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA
No RSVP required
About FIBER: The Coming Tech Revolution—and Why America Might Miss It
“The world of fiber optic connections reaching neighborhoods, homes, and businesses will represent as great a change from what came before as the advent of electricity. The virtually unlimited amounts of data we’ll be able to send and receive through fiber optic connections will enable a degree of virtual presence that will radically transform health care, education, urban administration and services, agriculture, retail sales, and offices. Yet all of those transformations will pale compared with the innovations and new industries that we can’t even imagine today. In a fascinating account combining policy expertise and compelling on-the-ground reporting, Susan Crawford reveals how the giant corporations that control cable and internet access in the United States use their tremendous lobbying power to tilt the playing field against competition, holding back the infrastructure improvements necessary for the country to move forward. And she shows how a few cities and towns are fighting monopoly power to bring the next technological revolution to their communities.” — Yale University Press
More About FIBER: The Coming Tech Revolution—and Why America Might Miss It
“If we can just finish the last mile for fiber to reach into households, Susan Crawford shows, we can unleash a revolution of economic growth, education, and health, and address inequality in a whole new way. Crawford shifts effortlessly from the heights of policy to the literal ground level and shows us the way.”— Anthony Marx, President, New York Public Library
“By vividly describing a world filled with fiber-enabled technology as well as the perils and possibilities for achieving it, Susan Crawford has written a playbook for a fairer and more prosperous United States.”— Andy Berke, Mayor, Chattanooga, Tennessee
“Engaging and accessible … An indictment of national regulatory politics and crony capitalism and a love story about the plucky local governments overcoming the odds to bring their own communities into the twenty-first century. A microcosm of what ails America—and what nonetheless can give us hope.”— Yochai Benkler, Harvard Law School
“Crawford convinces with impeccable journalism and empathetic portraits of rural communities and low-income cities in distress, the ails of which could be much alleviated by a large-scale federal investment in fiber optic connections . . . Crawford’s work is both refreshing and potent in how it clinically identifies the problem, and proposes a straightforward, feasible solution.” —Publishers Weekly
“Essential reading.” — Kirkus Reviews, (starred review)
About Susan Crawford
Susan Crawford is the John A. Reilly Clinical Professor at Harvard Law School. She is the author of FIBER: The Coming Tech Revolution And Why America Might Miss It and Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age; co-author of The Responsive City: Engaging Communities Through Data-Smart Governance; and a contributor to WIRED.
She served as Special Assistant to the President for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy (2009) and co-led the FCC transition team between the Bush and Obama administrations. Crawford also served in the past as a member on Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Advisory Council on Technology and Innovation and on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Broadband Task Force.
Crawford was formerly a (Visiting) Stanton Professor of the First Amendment at Harvard’s Kennedy School, a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School, and a Professor at the University of Michigan Law School. As an academic, she teaches Internet law and communications law. She was a member of the board of directors of ICANN from 2005-2008 and is the founder of OneWebDay, a global Earth Day for the Internet that takes place each Sept. 22.
She has been named one of Politico’s 50 Thinkers, Doers and Visionaries Transforming Politics; one of Fast Company’s Most Influential Women in Technology; an IP3 Awardee; one of Prospect Magazine’s Top Ten Brains of the Digital Future; and one of Time Magazine’s Tech 40: The Most Influential Minds in Tech.