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Shane Greenstein, the Elinor and H. Wendell Hobbs Professor of Management & Strategy

Shane Greenstein, the Elinor and H. Wendell Hobbs Professor of Management & Strategy

The Internet and innovation

Professor Shane Greenstein testifies before Congress on network neutrality


3/11/2011 - Professor Shane Greenstein headed to Washington, D.C. on March 9 to testify at a congressional hearing on Internet and broadband industry practices.

Greenstein, the Elinor and H. Wendell Hobbs Professor of Management & Strategy, spoke before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce at a hearing on a resolution that would block the Federal Communication Commission’s network neutrality rules.

Greenstein addressed the impact that the absence of regulatory oversight would have on innovation and the transparency of carriers.

“The commercial Internet has been quite innovative for 15 years. The rate of innovation may decline if there is any movement toward less transparency and more blocking and more discrimination of traffic,” Greenstein said in written testimony to the subcommittee on communications and technology. “Such behavior could raise transaction costs, which have been low historically, and have played an important role in making the commercial Internet so innovative.

“The economic stakes behind these issues are high …. Policy should favor faster deployment and use, and avoid risks that potentially slow it down.”

Greenstein’s research and writing focus on the business economics of computing, communications and Internet infrastructure. He has been quoted in many major media outlets, including The New York Times, in addition to being a regular columnist and essayist in IEEE Micro and author of the blog, Virulent Word of the Mouse.

Click here to read Greenstein’s oral testimony.

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