PFF Cancels Swanky Summer Summit
The Progress and Freedom Foundation is postponing its popular annual policy summit, which was to be held this August at Robert Redford's swanky Sundance Resort in Utah. PFF President Ken Ferree cited the nation's ongoing economic woes as the rationale for pulling the plug on the popular outside the Beltway event. "We do not think it prudent to spend our supporters' money, or ask others to spend scarce dollars, on a lavish conference at a remote facility," Ferree said in a press release. He said the free market think tank intends to reschedule the conference when economic conditions improve, and in the interim use its resources as efficiently as possible on local events and publications. The summer retreat for lobbyists and policy experts had been held in Aspen, Colo. for 14 years before the group decided to relocate for 2009.
The conference theme was supposed to be "A New Deal for the Digital Age" to set the stage for a searching inquiry about policy priorities in the Obama administration. Panelists and keynote speakers intended to discuss the future of public policy in the fields of communications, intellectual property and e-commerce. The summit is known for attracting big name speakers like former FCC Chairman Michael Powell, Sun Microsystems' Jonathan Schwartz, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Viacom founder Sumner Redstone. A PFF spokeswoman said in the near term, the organization will revitalize its congressional seminar series and is planning several events focused on the Internet, telecom industry and online child safety. The luncheon event examining the way forward for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which coordinates the administration of the domain name system, is scheduled for April 24.
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