The last big change in telecommunications law happened in 1996, when simple cell phones barely existed. With technology exploding around us, we desperately need new rules of the road. The future of the economy is at stake.

Starting with our Spring 2015 issue and into 2016, Democracy will seek answers to these questions: What does smart, progressive digital policy look like? And how do we ensure growth and broad-based prosperity in the new digital economy?

We know that whatever the state of play a year from now, the technology we have come to rely so much upon will already be different, and more different still a year after that. But policy isn’t keeping up. In these areas, we’re still largely guided by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The time for a big rethink is well overdue.

We’re excited to partner with the Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute at New York Law School in presenting a series of essays on the various challenges and opportunities ahead. In the months to come, we will update this page with new entries to the series from some of our brightest and most incisive thinkers. Please check in regularly to see our latest dispatches. And if you’d like to be alerted when our next essays go up, sign up for our email newsletter.