On Tuesday July 31 2018 the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet held a hearing The Internet and Digital Communications: Examining the Impact of Global Internet Governance. Witnesses: Michael Chertoff, Former Secretary of Homeland Security; James Bladel, VP Policy, GoDaddy; Dr. Roslyn Layton, American Enterprise Institute; Christopher Painter, Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace; Denise Zheng, VP Policy, The Business Roundtable.
WHAT: The Internet and Digital Communications: Examining the Impact of Global Internet Governance
View on C-SPAN: https://cs.pn/2Kbx1o4
View on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4ZqmVX3AAeI
Twitter: @SenateCommerce + Internet
+ Ted Cruz: Press Release
+ Google AI: raw text | wordcloud
On Wednesday Oct 25 2016 the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing The Commercial Satellite Industry: What’s Up and What’s on the Horizon. The hearing examined commercial satellite services and next-generation satellite services affecting consumers. Witnesses: Patricia Cooper, Vice President of Satellite Government Affairs, SpaceX; Mark Dankberg, Chief Executive Officer, ViaSat; Stephen Spengler, Chief Executive Officer, Intelsat; Greg Wyler, Founder and Executive Chairman, OneWeb. Captioned video is below.
Download: video | captions | raw transcript
Testimony: Patricia Cooper | Mark Dankberg | Stephen Spengler |Â Greg Wyler |
Today, Tuesday February 7 2016, as the new leadership at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) moves to rescind the Open Internet Order, sessions in Washington DC question the wisdom/validity of that action. In Washington the Senate Democrats gathered to defend the Order, while in Boston at the Berkman Klein Professor Christoph B. Graber in a talk  - Bottom-up Constitutionalism: The Case of Net Neutrality – examines the emergence of a new constitutional right of the Internet, not only protect individuals in their communication online, but a right protecting also the Internet as an institution. Links below.
Senate Dems defend Net Neutrality
View on YouTube: https://youtu.be/kluAdfwm50Y
Bottom-up Constitutionalism: The Case of Net Neutrality
View on BKCHarvard website: https://cyber.harvard.edu/events/luncheons/2017/02/Graber
Today Tuesday September 27 2016 CALinnovates presents Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Privacy Online Privacy and the Price of Innovation which will discuss the FCC’s proposed rule to restrict ISP’s ability to datamine their customers’ online activity. Keynote speaker is former FTC Chair Jon Leibowitz. He will be followed by a panel comprising Richard Bennett, Founder/Publisher, High Tech Forum; Harold Feld, Senior Vice President, Public Knowledge, & Tim Sparapani, Senior Policy Counsel, CALinnovates. Moderator is Fawn Johnson, Chief Policy Editor, Morning Consult. The event will be streamed live on the Internet Society Livestream Channel.
What: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Privacy Online Privacy and the Price of Innovation
Where: Russell Senate Office Bldg, Washington DC
When: Tuesday September 27 2016 Noon-1:30pm EDT (16:00-17:30 UTC)
Webcast: https://livestream.com/internetsociety/privacy
Twitter: @CALinnovates
The Internet Society’s New York Chapter (ISOC-NY) has joined a coalition of groups supporting the completion of the IANA Transition. This, along with similar letters from ISOC’s Kathy Brown, another coalition, and more, amount to practically unanimous approval of the transfer plan from the Internet community. This outpouring is the result of some possible bumps in the road.
Some background:
After 18 years of steady progress since the formation of ICANN, and two years of intense negotiation within the multistakeholder community to come up with a plan, on Aug 12 2016 the NTIA declared that it intends to let the IANA Functions Contract expire on Sep 30 2016, “barring any significant impediment”. However, a significant impediment may indeed possibly arise in the form of congressional opposition. On the Senate side this is led by former presidential candidate Ted Cruz who, speaking on Sep 8 2016, vociferously spoke against it.
(transcript)
Cruz made several spurious claims – pretty much the opposite of reality – about the implications of the transfer, for instance, about the power of governments to control global content via ICANN, or that ICANN would leave U.S. jurisdiction. This prompted ICANN to issue a refuting FAQ.
Also on September 8, a bill opposing the transfer was introduced in the House, and several other prominent pols sent a letter to the DoC & DoJ raising anti-trust, jurisdiction, and accountability concerns. Cruz’s solution was to call for “continuing and strengthening” financial constraints imposed on the NTIA in 2015 via a continuing resolution, in effect de-funding the transfer in the imminent Appropriations Bill. If such were to happen, the only way the transition would go through would be via an Obama veto, and a resulting government shutdown. Something that did happen in the battle over Obamacare in 2013, but not seen as a likely prospect in 2016, despite it precipitating a Republican pratfall last time round.
However, transcendentally, whether such financial constraints do even in fact prevent the transfer taking place appear negated by a GAO report issued on Monday! The NTIA’s Larry Strickling immediately responded “We thank the GAO for its thorough analysis of the property implications of the IANA transition. We are pleased that GAO concluded that the transition does not involve a transfer of U.S. government property requiring Congressional approval.â€
The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing – chaired by Cruz – Protecting Internet Freedom: Implications of Ending U.S. Oversight of the Internet at 10am EDT Wednesday September 14 2016. There should be a webcast available on that link, and also audio via CapitolHearings.org.
**  Video of the hearing is downloadable at https://isoc-ny.org/misc/2016-09-14_senate_iana.mp4 **
On July 16 2016 U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Angus King (I-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and John Boozman (R-Ark.) joined together to launch and co-chair a new Senate Broadband Caucus, with the purpose of working to improve connectivity in rural America. The launch was streamed live on YouTube.
View on YouTube: https://youtu.be/0wR2nRXEOvE
Today Tuesday May 24 2016 at 10am EDT (14:00 UTC) the the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, will convene a full committee hearing titled “Examining the Multistakeholder Plan for Transitioning the Internet Assigned Number Authorityâ€. The hearing will examine the proposed transition of oversight of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), a department of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) that allocates Internet IP addresses and domain names, to the global multistakeholder community. Two years ago, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced its intention to transition IANA functions. On March 10, 2016, ICANN forwarded to the NTIA a transition proposal developed by the international community of Internet stakeholders. The NTIA set a target of 90 days to complete its review. Witnesses will testify on advantages and disadvantages of the proposed transition of IANA functions to the global multistakeholder community.
Witnesses:
*Mr. Michael Beckerman, President and CEO, The Internet Association
*Mr. Steve DelBianco, Executive Director, NetChoice
*The Honorable David A. Gross, former U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, U.S. State Department
*Mr. Rick Manning, President, Americans for Limited Government
*Mr. Brett Schaefer, Jay Kingham Fellow in International Regulatory Affairs, Heritage Foundation
*Mr. Andrew Sullivan, Chair, Internet Architecture Board
The hearing is being webcast live at http://www.commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/hearings?ID=418B1D81-1F0B-4E09-BB71-A98FBABE42B9
UPDATE
- The archived webcast can be downloaded at https://isoc-ny.org/misc/2016-05-24_senate_iana.mp4 – starts at 13:25
- The Internet Society today issued a new statement supporting the IANA transition.
On May 11 2016 the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law held a hearing Examining the Proposed FCC Privacy Rules. The FCC was represented by Chair Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Ajit Pai, while the FTC was represented by Chair Edith Ramirez and Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen.
* View on C-SPAN:
- Twitter: #fcc + #privacy
- Tom Wheeler Statement
- Ajit Pai Statement
- FTC Press Release
- EPIC letter to the Committee
- The Hill FCC chair defends privacy proposal before lawmakers
On Wednesday, January 21, 2015 the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, and the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held consecutive hearings “Protecting the Internet and Consumers through Congressional Actionâ€. The hearings discussed a draft bill that would pre-empt the FCC’s revised Open Internet ruling, expected in February 2015, specifically:
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to ensure Internet openness, to prohibit blocking lawful content and non-harmful devices, to prohibit throttling data, to prohibit paid prioritization, to require transparency of network management practices, to provide that broadband shall be considered to be an information service, and to prohibit the Commission or a State commission from relying on section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 as a grant of authority.
Video is below. Speaker indexes are available in the YouTube descriptions.
HOUSE HEARING:
View on Youtube: http://youtu.be/uP_dxvXzVwI
Transcribe on AMARA: http://www.amara.org/en/videos/21PwAWRTWXm0/
Witnesses: Michael Powell – President and CEO, National Cable & Telecommunications Association; Chad Dickerson – CEO, Etsy; Paul Misener – Vice President of Global Public Policy, Amazon Inc; Jessica Gonzalez – Executive Vice President and General Counsel, National Hispanic Media Coalition; Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee – Vice President and Chief Research and Policy Officer, Minority Media & Telecom Council; Meredith Atwell Baker, President and CEO, CTIA-The Wireless Association
SENATE HEARING:
View on Youtube: http://youtu.be/vefwMem49KM
Transcribe on AMARA: http://www.amara.org/en/videos/DwK4KMPgaQWf/
Witnesses: Meredith Attwell Baker – President and CEO, CTIA-The Wireless Association; Gene Kimmelman – President and CEO, Public Knowledge; Robert McDowell – Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute; Paul Misener – Vice President, Global Public Policy, Amazon Inc.; Tom Simmons – Senior Vice President of Public Policy, Midcontinent Communications; Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee – Vice President & Chief Research and Policy Officer, Minority Media & Telecommunications Council