Transcripts For CSPAN2 The Communicators 20160104

Its going to be a great event. We thought it was a little too much. We are hoping 150 and 170,000 so all of our guests have a great experience and hotel rates are not too expensive. Over 3600 companies thats up from 2. 24 million in 2015. Its going to be spectacular. More excitement and more different categories than ever before and its the future. Its a show where the soling problems, reallife problems for the world, its about healthcare, its about transportation, clean food, clean water, greater food production, we are solving big problems with technology. We shift to a selfdriving car. This is our future. This is the dynamic excitement that this industry and the free market and innovation provide, and how could we as policymakers insure that the United States stays at the lead. Others are coming from other countries saying how can we capture that lead. The chinese, they have a fiveyear plan that focuses on innovation and patents. France will have over a hundred exhibiters there, and they will have a huge delegation because theyre focused on innovation. We have competition, and thats a good thing. Its good for our own government to say, look, we just cant assume were the best in the world. Sure. Lets talk about some of those technologies, and you mentioned drones. The new requirement that consumers beginning around this Holiday Season have to register their craft with the government. Cta was pretty critical of some of what the government had contemplated. Given the fact this is still a pilot, its been a few days, what the organizations current take on the faas drone Registration Requirements right now . Guest well, we were part of a committee, and the government worked at lightning speed to get something done by the Holiday Season. We were a little taken aback by the 5 tax. But the fact is that drones are a reality in not only the consumer marketplace, but the commercial and the government marketplace. I mean, they solve big problems, they help protect prisons, they do perimeter security, they do aerial mapping, they do so many great things, they get medicines to people who need it quickly, at some point theyll be providing Package Delivery not only to your home, but also to cut down on traffic. Whats our take . We are behind the rest of the developed world in our regulatory structure towards drones, and were losing out in the testing sites. States are jumping forward, nevada, virginia have jumped in and said we want to be areas for where theres drones. So theres a lot going on there. Its definitely a form of mobility thats very important, and we have to be the lead, and the federal government has to be more responsive and focused rather than ruling by exception. Sure. And just stick with drone registrations for a second. Should there have been more onus placed on the retailers to insure consumers had to register their craft at the time of purchase . I dont think so. I think that would be devastating especially to brick and mortar retailers. Theyre facing enough competition right now from online retailers. To throw one more thing at them would just make it more difficult to do business, impose new costs and contribute to their decline. Sure. And switching to the commercial side of things, has the faa gotten it right . Or is it moving too slowly to bring commercial drones into u. S. Air space . Guest certainly, it was moving too slowly, no question about it. That hurt everybody, including all our Nations Companies that are trying to build and sell trones. Now theyve drones. Now theyve moved quicker. I mean, they mean well, and there are safety issues connected with drones, and we have to address them. Sure. There are also privacy issues, and thats one of the big policy matters that hangs over the entirety of ces when you have these cases that deliver new ways. You and i have been talking about technology, the growth of ces, have Tech Companies found that balance or, you know, is privacy still the top issue for Companies Like drone makers as they too to introduce new services . Guest i think privacy is definitely an issue that some people care about it. I think some people mt. Media and these previous professionals that make a living out of it care a lot more. We have to balance privacy and legitimate concerns people really do have against the fact that products are coming which will make a fundamental difference in our lives, and sometimes privacys less important. You cant just assume all your information is private. If this is an accident, that information should be able to be transmitted to others to help protect with safety. Hipaa might have gone a little too far. As we aggregate more information and anonymize it, you could get all sorts of information which will solve diseases and problems. So privacy is definitely important. Look, technologys going to solve our big problems. We talk about terrorism, and thats a big issue. What do you think is going to happen with facial recognition, voice analysis . Technologys going to solve the problems that were dealing with terrorists, and thats something we have to focus on, and there is a balance between terrorism and privacy. You know, right now stopping terrorisms a little more important than protecting every aspect of every person from doing anything. Host well, gary shapiro, that brings up the issue of encryption and how that affects your member companies. Is there one opinion among all your members on the issue of encryption . Guest i think generally the Tech Industrys pretty united that encryptions a strong, powerful tool that everyone should have in their products. And to start giving governments a back door means that evil people could get back doors and solve nothing. I think theres a consensus not only in the Tech Industry, but in the Government Security world that its not such a great idea to give a back door. Now, when it comes down to it, the truth is Technology Companies cooperate all the time when theres a legitimate need with law enforcement. What happened during the boston bombing, you saw them respond. But to say we have to design products so the chinese or American Government or someone else has a back door is not viewed as a favorable development. Host why the name change from cea to cta . Guest were just reflecting who we are in reality. We represent over 2,000 Tech Companies. When you have air bnb and snapchat and pandora and uber and lyft and all these Disruptive Companies that are providing new technologies and services and theyre up against status quo industries trying to use governments to stop new entrants, we want to help. We want to make sure everyone understands the world is about change. The worlds about innovation and about Disruptive Technologies and giving consumers empowerment and choice, allowing consumers to do business each other. And thats why we created the Disruptive Innovation council and increasingly advocating saying, look, stop using government to affect new entrants to markets. Theyre united in their willingness to embrace change, and thats what ces is about. We dont ask the government for money, we never have. Hopefully, we never will. But we ask to say be open to change because thats what the u. S. Economy thrives on, and thats what moves the human condition forward; invention, innovation, technology and the free market. Lets talk a little bit more about that name change. You mentioned the Disruptive Innovation council. How does that organizations work differ from what cta is going to be to do in terms of messaging and lobbying here in washington, d. C. . Guest not at all. Its part of the Consumer Technology association. We have all sorts of councils and committees and things like that. This is just a handselected group of companies which are truly disruptive, measured by the number of customers they have, how theyre changing the existing paradigms. Its a carefully selected group, its by invitation only. A lot of company say theyre disrupters, especially startups. This is not for startups because every startup thinks theyre disruptive. You have to establish a certain threshold of customers and web views or whatever it is to change the market, and thats why its just limited to about 15 or 20 companies. Sure. And its a wide array of companies, and there are a wide array of issues that they touch on. Whats on this groups agenda as we begin 2016 . Is it dealing with some of the ridesharing work thats happening in the states . Benefits and issues around workplace protections here in d. C. . Whats the early agenda look like . Guest well, some of it is reactive to what governments are trying to shut down whether its state or National Governments or even local, and some of it is just the concept of disruption being a positive thing. We spend a lot of time debating the word disruption. The old meaning, old definitions were negative. The new world, the way it looks at it, is very, very positive. So were trying to get across the concept its a good thing. Well be sharing research. Disruption is a part of how we are evaluating each of the 50 states as to whether theyre proinnovation or antiinnovation, and we grade every state. Well be releasing the results again in the First Quarter of the year to show that these are states which are good and these are states which have to improve their game if they want to be states considered proinnovation. Given the state of affairs and some of the political back and forth we see in d. C. , are the states a bigger concern for Tech Companies and cta than the federal government right now . Guest thats hard to say s. So only of the some of the states are a little more aggressive on, for example, recycling issues, and thats really challenging for National Industries that are trying to get products out. On some of the issues like privacy, intellectual property and trade and immigration, the actions all in the federal government. Host gary shapiro, one of the issues that weve talked about quite a bit on this program and here in washington is the issue of Net Neutrality. As it works its way again through the court system, whats your view on it . Guest well, its Net Neutrality as a concept is a good thing. I think the way the federal government has chosen to go about it in a permissionbased innovation approach is not healthy, saying we can regulate anything, and were starting to see now tmobile, you know, the chairman of the fcc at one point said its a great thing theyre doing with new plan. Now though we have to question, give us information, you have to ask us permission first. I think its a dangerous path were on with net knewalty. It was working neutrality. It was working great. Weve been fighting for it for 15 yearses. We got everyone to agree on principles, and everything was fine. Its still unclear why the federal government had to step in and say we have to do by law and come up with a strained version of it thats clearly subject to court challenge. We dont know what the result will be. Net neutrality in principle is good, but the fact is Companies Need to be able to have differential pricing. We need to do whatever we can to encourage broadband competition, and that should be the goal. If theres broadband competition, you really dont need that much Net Neutrality. Because if consumers could choose their broadband provider based on cost and price and options with full disclosure and the ability to get out of a contract if the broadband provider changes the rules, then Net Neutralitys much less important. Host what about the upcoming spectrum auctions . Guest theyre really important. We were thrilled that Congress Passed and the president signed legislation. Its a little complex. Im not going to deny fact that its not a slam dunk. We dont know what broadcasters will do, the way the auction will actually work, but we need that spectrum desperately. Americans just assume youre going to have fast wireless broadband, youre getting full motion video all the time, and we need the spectrum for it. So by, you know, we have to give this a try. Hopefully itll work. And if it doesnt, well try something else. But we need the spectrum. The government spectrum is also, wed like to see a little bit more of that become available. Theres some great proposals out there, and well be pushing for those as well. Host and finally, when it comes to the ces show, youre going to have all five fcc commissioners out there on a panel. Will you also encourage them to get to the floor to see some of this equipment . Guest oh, we everyone who comes, and generally about 99 of them do when we have government officials coming. Some of them have to go in and out, and thats unfortunate because part of the excitement is the five sense experience of the show and seeing the excitement of Companies Like intel and qualcomm what theyre offering, its huge. Multiply that by thousands. They talk to the engineers, the inventors, the executives, so, yeah, they go out there, and every chairman has really done a great job of going to see the exhibits x thats what they generally do. What we have as an incredible challenge is the ethics rules. They basically say youre there for 24 hours, youre in and out, you get into a place like las vegas, and they have crazy things. We have a dipper where we host the a dinner where we host the top executives from around the world, and our government executives sometimes stand outside the Cocktail Party because theyre not allowed to go in under the ethics rules. The fact that our government has an obligation and a sense to help us host this global event where we get 50,000 people from outside the United States. I go to my competitor show in germany, and i see Angela Merkel is there greeting everyone. And yet we have rules and congresswoman play seven city where complacency where were just not allowed to have our government do its job and help Welcome International visitors and focus on the fact that this is what were doing in the United States thats good, talk to their compatriots. I should be thankful theyre allowed for 4 hours 24 hours. 24 hours. Host just to continue in that line of argument, the flip side though would be that you can consider ces to be a form of lobbying where the Tech Companies there, the disruptive folks say, you know, youre talking about looking for access to government regulators. How would you respond to some of hose comments . Guest well, you say lobbying, its providing information and experience which is asking legislators to make decisions without firsthand experience. And that gets you into trouble. I think there are experts, and what we do is, look, we embrace both sides of an issue. We have qualcomms top patent lobbyist, they are totally against us on patent trolls. We present both sides of an issue, we try all the policymakers are out there in the open, press like you are welcome to attend and encouraged. We dont have too many secrets about what we do with the legislators. Theyre following the rules, theyre doing their job. They have to be there, and those that dont go, in my view, are less likely to do a gad job legislate good job legislating or regulating. Were certainly not buying any access, theyre just seeing the world firsthand the way they should see it. Anytime a regulator gets out of washington, i think its a good thing because hay need that experience to make they need that experience to make reasonable judgments. We talked about drones as one of the big pieces of technology on display at ces. Another one looks like to me is Virtual Reality technology. There seem to be a lot of zones set up for vr technology. Is that industry concerned about washington . You havent heard too much from d. C. On vr, but i it seems like the sort of thing that washington could take a look at. What does that industry think about d. C. . Guest well, theres Virtual Reality that is totally madeup reality, theres augmented reality which we have a whole new area for as well, and thats when youre putting yourself in an existing situation. Youre molding out, for example, a piece of furniture as it would look in your house. So theres tremendous applications for that. Virtual reality seems to be at point to be more game and trainingoriented. But im not sure what regulators would be focused on in that. The companies in that space are so busy trying to compete with each other and get products to marketplace, i would guess theyre not thinking that much about washington, because the ramifications arent that great. Although one of the companies in this space which i dont believe is exhibiting at ces have registered a lobbyist a few months ago, its one of the first Virtual Reality companies that have set up shop of sorts guest who is that . Magic leap. [laughter] guest im sorry. What does that tell you about this industry or, i guess, other industries that are up and coming and the way theyre engaging washington now as opposed to perhaps a few years ago . Guest well, certainly microsoft has made the make of ignoring washington, and facebook and google tried to learn from that. As you get bigger, Everyone Wants to take shots at you. And often when you succeed, that means youre diverting money from someone else, and they try to block you. Its more defensive than anything else. People figure out ways like on privacy notifications, well, how does snapchat as the government was requesting do a snail mail notification to all their customers in they cant. Of its not in their business model. So some of the old rules just dont apply, and thats why they need, sadly, representation in a world where theres thousands of regulations on the books and thousands of ones being proposed. Thats the biggest challenge to new business creation today. Its not money, its not ideas, its not even technology. How do you comply with all of the government regulations that is you dont even know are out there . Sure. Weve also seen a proliferation of tech trade groups that represent these companies. Is there sort of an arms race to be the voice of a particular industry . Its also business as much as politics, but are these groups all competing for influence . Is the space too crowded now . Guest actually, i like it. Were all colleagues, and we work together. And sometimes the more names on an ad or a letter, the more influential it is, the more people that are active. Its a free market and the more the merrier as far as be im concerned. Companies vote with their dollars. Host gary shapiro, Data Security and data breaches, big issue in 2015. Is there going to be some displays on that kind of security . Guest yes. We have a whole new area of the show focused on cybersecurity and personal security. And that is an issue. Obviously, its an issue for our government, for major commercial any commercial company. But its also seeping into the fact that were going to the internet of things, and we have a thousand companies showing internet of things, connected products with each other using the internet. If someone wants to turn the lights on in your house, theres not real theres issues that the Auto Industry is dealing with very effectively. Thats a more serious issue, and it deserves serious approach. Some of the things are like whether some, you know, whether you could have your garage door opened. We dealt with these issues in different ways. Technology will, in a sense, create some problem, Technology Also Provides a solution. But we also have to train our kids and our employees and others to be cyber smart and not click on that foolish attachment. So, yes, there is a focus, but we can solve it. Host all right. When the communicators is gone to vegas to this show, one of the things that weve found is over at the sands hotel, separate from the convention center, is emerging technology or new startup companies. Guest yeah. So we are so focused on startups. Thats what we believe in. Thats, when i joined the organization before i joined it i heard this is why we have the show, its for anyone with an idea to expose to it to thousands of investors, reporters like yourself, retailers, partners. And we formalize that with something called eureka park which is a subsidized area for startups. Now we have over 500. We have a waiting list. You have to have certain criteria and, boy, is it an exciting area. Engineers and entrepreneurs and innovators with ideas, and they expose them for four days to thousands of people with a view, and they all leave with a different concept that they came in with about how they should launch that business. And a lot of them are acquired, theres been multimillion dollar investments. Thats the buzz area of the show, but its also throughout the show. We do use the Sands Convention for that and also for many other things like wireless help and a lot of other things. Three of the top Ten Convention centers in the country in las vegas. Were using all of them for different things. We wish there was more space in las vegas. Host is this open to the public . Guest it is not. Thank you for asking that. We are trying to restrict attendance this year, and were very careful to screen the public out. Host why . Guest well, first of all, its pure space. Second of all, its a businesstobusiness event, and the public has a different sense, and theyre asking questions about where i can buy this while the businesstobusiness people are saying how can i have this product ready for next years Holiday Season . If you modify this, maybe ill go with it. Its more of a feedback relationship, and unlike european events which are or open to the public, we believe and our exhibiters want, basically, they want the trade there. Now, the truth is with over 150,000 people, every one of those is also a consumer. But a lot of whats going on in the Business World today and in innovation, its radically changed in the last ten years, is to succeed today, you must go across industry. Thats why we have everyone focusing on the Innovation Ecosystem from the Auto Industry to hollywood to broadcast to cable to satellite to wall street. Around the world coming to Las Vegas Next week because its a across segments doing business. We have a whole area of the show, three hotels focused on chief marketing officers and Companies Like google and amazon because they are new ad tech marketing applications to get your message out. So its a convergence marketplace, and those are all consumers, but theyre all business people, and you have to be a business person to go. Just following up on both of those points that you made. First, when it comes to the public, is there increasingly a gap between the technology on display at ces and what consumers are doing, the things that theyre buying . If you read a lot of tech blogs, they would suggest some of these tvs that you see, some of these smart Home Technologies arent the things that are ending up in consumers homes maybe a year or two after theyre shown on display at ces. Guest well, thats what ces is. In a sense, Companies Put out products some of which will never go to market because it does not get a good reception from media, retailers, investors and partners. But having said that, there are tremendous things going on in the video display and the audio area. High performance sound is back. 4k ultra hd is a grand slam home run, better blacks and whites, phenomenal colors. Everyone who sees an ultra hd wants one. But what were seeing in the Wireless Health products, things like that, these are products which are up doubledigit growth every year. The fact is, you know, theres been high water marks set by smartphones and tablets which have got the media penetration in just a few years. Its a matter of expectations. But the Companies Engaged in these spaces see tremendous opportunity. Theres Huge Investment going on, and people are buying the products. Look, what i have around my wrist right now thats measuring my steps and my heartbeat, these products didnt exist a few years ago, and now at least 10 of the American Population is wearing one. Thats a huge growth curve. Maybe not enough for optimism media people, but theres a joy and a cynicism in some of the reporters covering technology. The fact is we embrace technology in this country, and theres huge room for growth. And around the world as well, because their solving reallife problems, helping with our health, theyre helping with what we eat, theyre helping in agriculture, and theyre making a huge difference. Ces is in 2016, 2016 has that election, im pretty sure, so i have to pivot to the president ial election, and you recently wrote an oped talking about marco rubio and called the senator the ubercandidate, i believe. Talk about why you think hes the candidate of choice for republicans and, you know, entering november. Guest well, this is, obviously, a personal view, but i do have the position, and the reason i do is because he is the only one talking about innovation, talking about the dynamism of the american economy, about how change occurs. Theres a whole chapter in his book about uber. That relates to the average american person, younger people especially who are using uber in so many different ways to extend where they live, to get to work, that last mile away from public transportation. And also all these startups are out there. What weve seen from the Obama Administration, frankly, in terms of affecting startups is deadly. This proposal that everyone must make overtime unless you make 50,000 a year will kill many startups. Denying the right to use interns, obamacare. We have to spend over 50,000 a year extra just to hire interns because we have to put them on obamacare. This is not good for people graduating college, and i see marco rubio, someone whos willing to talk about these issues. I have not seen any other candidate on the democratic or republican stage talking about this in such a forceful way or, frankly, any way at all. And thats ooh what i thats what i appreciate about senator rubio. Plus, he has taken a reasonable approach on immigration. He was one of the creators of the startup act which allowed crowd funding and pushed new ways of funding ventures. He is focused on innovation as creating jobs, and thats a discussion this country should be having, and i appreciate it greatly. Obviously, i dont agree with his positions on some issues or a lot of other candidates positions on issues. But in terms of innovation, he is the candidate that i think the tech i have should be talking about because of what hes saying. But the Tech Industry is mostly talking about Hillary Clinton right now. Many of the startups that youre talking about have flocked to the democratic side of the ledger. Why hasnt rubio gains the traction that maybe he and other supporters would like him to have . Guest well, among republicans, im sure he will. The challenge that the Tech Industry faces is that theyre promiscuous in their campaign giving. That leaves both democrats and republicans going to Silicon Valley, collecting donations basically without regard to where they stand on technology and innovation. I think thats unfortunate, and its gradually changing. So i think its up to the tech community. If they want to give money to candidates like Hillary Clinton, they should be challenging the innovation support, patent reform. All these issues of major importance to the Tech Industry and especially reverse some of these policies from the Obama Administration which have made it increasingly difficult for kids out of college to get jobs and to work for Tech Companies. Because its a growing issue, its a problem faced by our own defense industry, frankly. Where are these engineers coming from . Thats what ill con valley should be Silicon Valley should be talking about with candidates. Host and finally, gary shapiro, youve introduced an Old Technology to the ces show which is books. You have a book club or a book section there at ces. If somebody goes to the web site, what kind of books are they going to find . Guest books focusing on innovation and technology. I successfully launched two of my books at ces, and our economist, chief economist launched a third in 2015, so we said why not give other authors this opportunity. We did it in 2015, phenomenally successful. 2016 say, look, people still read whether its in the old to dead tree version or the electronic version, and its been very successful. We found lots of authors want to have their book there. We had a huge number of submissions. And, you know, we have criteria, must be a recent or about to be released book, and it must have to do with innovation and technology, but theres some great books there. Host gary shapiro, president and ceo of the Consumer Technology association which sponsors the ces show in las vegas january 6th9th of 2016. Tony romm, who will be at the show, is the Senior Technology reporter for politico. Gentlemen, thank you very much. Guest thank you. Thanks. Cspan, created by americas Cable Companies 35 years ago and brought to you as a Public Service by your local cable or satellite provider. This morning the Brookings Institution will host a discussion on the future of afghanistan by looking at the u. S. Role and ongoing efforts for maintaining security in the region. Thats live at 10 30 eastern over on cspan. And former president bill clinton is in New Hampshire today campaigning for his wife hillary. One of his stops includes an event in the town of exeter. Well have it live at 5 15 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Cspan takes you on the road to the white house and into the classroom. This year our student cam documentary contest asks students to tell us what issues they want to hear from the president ial candidates. Follow cspans road to the white house coverage and get all the details about our student cam contest at cspan. Org. From the annual Techcrunch Disrupt in san francisco, a demonstration of ibms Artificial Intelligence Computer System known as watson, the founder of the instant Message Service used by isis, and a conversation with rapper snoop doug about his new can snoop dogg. Thank you for that unenthusiastic welcome back. [laughter] [applause] appreciate that. Its monday, so you guys are