Genachowski: Broadband Authority Key to Cybersecurity, Privacy

FCC Chief Makes Regulatory Case at Senate Commerce Panel Hearing

By John Eggerton -- Multichannel News, 7/27/2010 4:54:16 PM

Washington -- Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski Tuesday took his testimony before a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on online privacy as an opportunity to put in a plug for clarifying his agency's broadband regulatory authority.

In his written testimony, a copy of which was supplied to Multichannel News by a third party, Genachowski suggested that effort was important to the privacy and security of the Internet. "As we move forward on online privacy, cybersecurity and other vital issues," he said in summing up his testimony, "it is important that uncertainties in the regulatory framework be resolved."

The chairman is currently collecting input on his proposal to reclassify broadband transmissions as a Title II information service, subject to some common-carrier rules. That effort is to resolve the regulatory framework uncertainties created by the court decision in the Comcast-BitTorrent case.

The chairman talked about working with the Federal Trade Commission on initiatives to "help inform and empower consumers," as well as on informing consumers about the need to protect wireless home networks. The FCC is looking toward a future in which broadband and other video is seamlessly integreated into home entertainment and information systems.

It is currently collecting info on how to promote that through an all-video set-top gateway.

He also put in a plug for the just-announced FCC online consumer help center, including its "consumer-friendly system for filing complaints."