Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) agreed with FCC Chairman Pai’s recent action to hit “reset” on broadband privacy rules enacted in 2015. Several Democrats disagreed. Ranking Member Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida said during the committee’s FCC oversight hearing on Wednesday he hoped it wasn’t a “sign of things to come.”
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said carriers would still have obligations to safeguard customer data, noting most consumers expect their private data to be treated as “opt-in” and the rest of their data to be “opt-out.”
Yet Thune said the Net Neutrality debate should not distract the FCC from other issues, like the upcoming television broadcast channel repack. Broadcasters have told lawmakers they are worried the 39 months allotted for the move won’t be enough time and the $1.75 billion reimbursement fund is inadequate.
Asked if he has concerns, Pai said he did at the time the plan was drawn up but some decisions had already been made by the time he became chairman. The agency believes some three months after the auction closes the agency will receive repack estimates from broadcasters. The timetable is hard to pin down, he said, because the FCC doesn’t really know when the auction will end.
The absence of former FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel at the hearing was noticed. Nelson called President Trump’s decision to pull her re-nomination last week “unfortunate” and that the Senate’s failure to confirm her earlier was “a black mark” on that body. “I hope the White House will correct that and nominate her for another term.”
Thune noted the agency has two vacancies and that Commissioner Mignon Clyburn’s term expires at the end of June. He hopes the President acts soon on FCC appointees and that the Senate moves swiftly to confirm them, noting Congress “should not allow the FCC to fall below a functioning quorum.”
For the first part of this story, click here.
March 9, 2017
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