WITNESSES Mary Anne Franks, Professor of Law and Michael R. Klein Scholar Chair, University of Miami School of Law Hany Farid, Professor, School of Information and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California, Berkley Jennifer Bennett, Principal, Gupta Wessler PLLC Andrew Sullivan, President and CEO, Internet Society Eric Schnapper, Professor of Law, University of Washington School of Law
Today, Wednesday May 13 2020, at 10 am EDT the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation convened a hearing titled, “The State of Broadband Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic”. The hearing examined the ongoing initiatives led by the Federal Communications Commission to maintain and expand high-speed and reliable broadband connections to all Americans during this national public health emergency. The hearing also examine the impact of funds provided through the CARES Actto support broadband initiatives at the federal, state, and local levels, and legislative proposals focused on addressing the digital divide during the COVID-19 outbreak. Witnesses: Steven Berry, President / CEO, Competitive Carriers Association; Shirley Bloomfield, CEO, NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association; Gene Kimmelman, Senior Advisor, Public Knowledge; and Jonathan Spalter, President / CEO, USTelecom – The Broadband Association.
Today Thursday October 4 2018, at 10am EDT (14:00 UTC) the Internet Society Livestream Channel will restream the September 26 US Senate hearing – Examining Safeguards for Consumer Data Privacy. At this hearing, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation examined privacy policies of top technology and communications firms, reviewed the current state of consumer data privacy, and offered members the opportunity to discuss possible approaches to safeguarding privacy more effectively. Witnesses: Len Cali, Senior Vice President—Global Public Policy, AT&T; Andrew DeVore, Vice President and Associate General Counsel, Amazon; Keith Enright, Chief Privacy Officer, Google; Damien Kieran, Global Data Protection Officer and Associate Legal Director, Twitter; Guy (Bud) Tribble, Vice President for Software Technology, Apple; Rachel Welch, Senior Vice President, Policy & External Affairs, Charter Communications.
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.
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.
Today Tuesday September 27 2016CALinnovates 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.
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 theIANA 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.”
I have concerns about the US ceding control of the Internet. But, when a pile of f!lth like Ted Cruz opposes an issue, it means the issue needs our full support.
ron baione-doda
12:42 am on September 15, 2016 Permalink
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As you can see from the hearing, no one mentioned any whistle-blower process at ICANN past, present or future. Anyone who thinks that the so-called post transition “checks and balances” processes approved and presented to Congress by the ICANN-accountability working group will stand up to the sophisticated methods of intimidation and bribery used by foreign intelligence services is merely pretending to believe in a world of international human rights and respect that does not yet exist. A world of international human rights and respect may one day exist, and at that time a transition could be considered in my opinion. I would recommend at this time that any allusion to a fragmented internet is nothing more than a bluff on behalf of those foreign governments pretending like that would be somehow a beneficial alternative to the current status quo for their economies, and lastly I recommend that the functions of ICANN be transferred to an office in the Pentagon under military supervision, until such time as a world of international human rights and respect occurs. Globalists who benefit from globalism financially willfully promote that the bluffs of foreign governments are somehow worth worrying about, such as the UN gaining control of ICANN. The U.S. has veto power at the UN, so that argument is moot. Stop falling for the bluffs of foreign governments, pretending that those bluffs represent real risks to the U.S. so you can further your globalist agenda. Its like if you owned something that you wanted to lose and the first person who asked you for it you were like, “oh i better give it up because this is the way the world is going now and if I don’t it’s a risk.”. The ICANN whistle-blower process basically relies on some hero in ICANN discovering undue foreign influence and then leaking that to wikileaks. There is no guarantee that the GAC influencer within ICANN on behalf of the American people will have America’s interests in mind, more likely it will be someone put there to continue selling out America to the false idea that globalism as a governance model, governed by people far away locally unaccountable. Globalism works only as an economic and travel facilitator as it should be limited to, but power-seekers know no such reasonable limits, although there are some signs , as with Brexit and the good work of Ted Cruz that there are many people willing to argue for limits on globalism to prevent increasingly unaccountable non-localized government, the ultimate corruption.
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.
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 Authority”. 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
On Wednesday March 8 2023 the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, And The Law held a hearing ‘Platform Accountability: Gonzalez and Reform‘ which essentially examined the prospects for Section 230 reform.
On Tuesday July 31 2018 the 
Today, Tuesday February 7 2016, as the new leadership at the 
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Today Tuesday May 24 2016 at 10am EDT (14:00 UTC) the the 
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