Senate Commerce Schedules Broadband Privacy Hearing for Tuesday

The Senate Commerce Committee scheduled a 10 a.m. Tuesday hearing in 253 Russell on FCC-proposed broadband privacy rules. Witnesses are Information Technology Industry Council CEO Dean Garfield; 21st Century Privacy Coalition co-Chairman Jon Leibowitz, a former FTC chairman now at Davis Polk; American Cable Association CEO Matt Polka; and Georgia Institute of Technology professor Peter Swire. This is the third Capitol Hill hearing on this topic this year. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., a Commerce Committee member, along with several Democratic colleagues sent a letter to the FCC Thursday lauding the FCC’s privacy role and suggesting what they feel the regulations should be. “We strongly support the Commission’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, and believe that this framework will strengthen the privacy protections for consumers’ personal information,” the Democrats said.