Satellite had been launched but the service had not yet begun. We came up with the Digital Television standards, which are radio standards. Commission meeting we had pcf. It was an extraordinary fund. Auction,gan the first at which point they actually bid. The hand plaque to it was an exciting time to be there. Implemented the 1996 telecom act, which dramatically changed the landscape by introducing competition in video. Also radically changed the landscape for broadcasts. Widening the ability to consolidate broadcast properties. Looking back 20 years later, did you get it right . Susan some of it we did. Andother thing we did, cspan can appreciate this greatly, as Childrens Television programming. The requirement for Childrens Television on broadcast. Some of it we got very right, marketplace said they were not sure if they needed it anymore. And it implemented the law. Issue with the 1996 telecom the congressally was looking backwards and was basically settling battle taking. Lace during the prior 10 years not looking forward. Not looking at what that might be about. Whether the commissioned need the tools to grapple with going forward. In that respect, the introduction of competition, that was a big deal. We are not interested in putting them against each other. Drag them toally the water but you cannot make them drink. Similarly we introduced Video Service that the Telephone Companies could do, but later that became somewhat irrelevant as we moved on. Certainly on other areas that we were implementing. Of time the concept competition in communication was the foundation that we built and nourished. At the end of the day it exists largely today. Back anden you look look now, did you have any idea where we would be in 2020 . Susan no clue. No clue. , theally, if you go back but tot had existed, years before i joined the commission was when the World Wide Web was created. It was really an interuniversity governmental dark system that had just been commercialized. Beent think anybody had ahead of their division but the good news is we at the commission did look at the development of modem activity, the ability up and down in connection with the internet and we said, this is a young service. We dont know where it is going to go. We are going to let it develop and see where it is headed. We took the position you can do more harm than good if you are trying to think about where a brandnew service is going to go. We thought the marketplace would be the best determinant of that outcome. Indeed. Do you still hold that opinion today, where we are in telecommunications . With respect to the internet, do i believe government should regulate portions of it . We are at a point today, not the fcc, more the federal trade commission, but at a point today where privacy is an important human right. Where we need to be focused more on how we provide citizens with a greater control over what information is gathered and used about them. I am hopeful congress will finally get its act together and pass a privacy act. California and other states certainly are doing that right now. There is greater incidence for or desire to do something acrosstheboard for the u. S. Gdpr, a regulation act from europe, is largely felt here. Not entirely. For example, many broadcast and other companies, their Online Platforms will not service europe. That having been said, that world tends to be governed by process. There may be other ways that are more central to what we do and how users can take advantage of the system. I think it is important for us to do our own privacy system in the u. S. There is a lot of talk about regulating the internet as a general matter. There may be areas where such oversight makes sense. Certainly in the area of transparency and accountability, that is something that is extremely important. As a commissioner, i hold the First Amendment with great respect. Today, as a private citizen, i do the same. I would be very cautious about any effort to regulate content online. There are other things that need to be addressed. Certainly pushing platforms, both large and small, to focus in on trying to address some of these issues like bad actors, bad behavior. I think working both with governments on a transatlantic basis. Which is what i do right now. It includes tech companies, ngos, and academics to identify what is working and what is not working. Protecting both freedom of expression and at the same time, perception online. We have come up with a number of different recommendations in the coming months. This is the time when we need to be collaborating with europe. Not even off of that has been done. Not enough of that has been done. That is one of our main objectives. Working with platforms again, large and small. The big platforms, they will be fine. Any regulation they can do. It is the smaller folks like wikipedia that have small staff. The internet archive, which has, i dont know, maybe 150 people in its employ. They are often the ones impacted by well intended but poorly drafted regulation. What is the name of your commission . Is a ridiculous name. Under the auspices of the policy center at penn. It is called the high level working group. You mentioned earlier that some u. S. Companies are not operating necessarily in europe. For example, our group had a session in vienna. Dont ask me what the acronym stands for. In any event, we had dinner with the u. S. Ambassador. From a government in virginia. His wife was commenting she could no longer get the virginia times. The reason is they shut off because of gdpr and not wanting to be liable, they have shut off access to european citizens. Are we heading toward a bifrocated World Wide Web . The internet is fractured. You have a number of different internets. You have china. Russia is trying to replicate that in large measure, where they control input and output. You have certainly the rules in europe and they are working to address liability. Some of the rules involving platform behavior this year. And then of course you have what is going on in the u. S. We share values with europe in large measure. Working together, i think is beneficial on both sides of the atlantic, even if we dont come up with necessarily the same approach. In terms of dealing with china, we know that is a threat. We know, for example, someone that is a student of one of our members has said she could not take a particular course because it would be reflected poorly in china. This is the course that was in north america. It could harm her appearance. She was told, how about auditing the course . She said, i cannot do that either. I am hopeful that is not the direction the entire world is headed. Protecting freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, all of the freedoms we take basically just assume will exist forever, they are fragile. Our democracy is fragile. We need to work hard to make sure it works for our society. That kind of begs the question about section 230 and whether Internet Companies should be free from liabilities. What are your thoughts . There are a lot of different pieces when you take that up part. Our group issued a paper on intermediary liability. If you are going to do something, here are the ramifications. It is very detailed. One can find the papers on our website. The whole point of that was basically to say, it is now the go to answer for all the harms on the internet. As a practical matter, it will have a dramatic and negative impact. The extent one plays around with it too much or removes it. It will have a dramatic and negative impact on freedom of expression. Because if you have liability, you are not going to try to take down, which was the main point of the section, to give the protections for platforms to actually monitor and take down harmful content where it appears. Where it violates terms of service. You are not going to have that. You are going to have much more of a take down and ask questions later. That is not good for a free society, particularly in other places where people put up information about governments that are corrupt. If that cant stand the test in one direction or another, it is going to be a valuable resource. That would be destroyed. Are there ways of addressing it . One thing i would for sure do is to make sure platforms are in fact coming up with clear and concise terms of service. That they actually enforce their terms of service. That there is appropriate and immediate redress for something that is taken down. If one believes it was taken down inappropriately. They are not gaming the system, which often times happens. There is a method of appeal of a decision from a platform. I think there are some things platforms can do to demonstrate that they are deserving of that protection. People should not look at the internet and social media platforms as being the functional equivalent of the town square. It is more like a walk in central park than a town square. No one really expects everything that is said as you are walking along is going to be truthful or provable. People have to also be armed with a better understanding of what is and what is not good digital hygiene. What you can believe, what you cannot believe. It is going to be an effort on a number of different parts. The transparency is an important part of this picture. The platforms need to be more transparent about what they are doing. When they take down, how they do it. Provide opportunities for appropriate researchers to dig in to see what has been taken down or not taken down. Platforms need to be cooperating more and i think they are beginning to do this. Where it is extremely harmful situations. For example, terrorist content, they do already cooperate in that. I think there is going to be an effort from the u. N. To have some steering committee. A database that companies, when they find terrorist content, they will tag so others do not copy it. There is more cooperation than we had two years ago but there is a tremendous amount that needs to be done. Pressure needs to be there. I am not sure the solution is eliminating section 230 or the commerce provisions which will be mended, hopefully to provide good samaritans. On both sides of the atlantic, things worked out. How did you get into this line of work . When i was in college in the dark ages, i had a radio show. Wrsu radio. I had the opportunity because i was fascinated by montreal expo 67. I had the opportunity to wrsu radio and broadcast the opening in montreal. In the first meeting of rod casters, we had folks like walter cronkite. I had access to the whole place. The notion of communication, transatlantic or transnational youth and communication as a way to improve conversations around the world, i thought would be a great one. Later, i went to law school, got a degree. Went to business school, looking at communications. For almost a decade. Then went on the federal communications commission. Susan ness, thank you for sharing some of your expertise background, and current work. Reminder, this Communicators Program and all others are available as podcasts. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] cspan, brought to you by your television provider. House did not release a weekly address from the president. Representative raul ruiz gave the democratic address discussing the federal bus bonds to the coronavirus outbreak. I represent californias 36th district. I am an emergency doctor, Public Health expert, and disaster specialist with Public Health and Public Policy degrees from harvard. Was working in the Emergency Department when our nation was combating the h1n1 pandemic. On the front lines, i saw how important a coordinated, comprehensive, governmentwide response is to addressing Public Health threats like the one we are facing. In situations like this, we must prepare for the worst and work for the best. That is why this we, House Democrats took Decisive Action to protect the health of the American People by passing the Coronavirus Preparedness and response supplemental appropriations act. 8. 3 package allocates billion dollars to address the coronavirus outbreak, including more than 3 billion for research and development of , 2. 2nes and diagnostics billion dollars in Public Health funding for prevention, preparedness, and response efforts, and nearly a billion dollars in support of state and local Health Agencies who are on the front lines working night and day to defend our Nations Health. Provides funds to reimburse state and local governments like Riverside County in my district for their expensive expenses incurred. This reimbursement is essential for readiness capacity to prevent future outbreaks and treat this disease. We passed a comprehensive aid package to help our Public Health infrastructure but House Democrats worked does not end there. We will remain vigilant in our oversight of the administrations efforts to ensure a thorough response that keeps americans safe and healthy. While Congress Passed a supplemental to address the coronavirus, and are steps you can take personally to help keep you and your family safe and healthy. Knowledge is power. One of the facts about knowing the facts reduces anxiety and empowers you to protect yourself and your community. Cdc. Gov is the best source of information. You will find realtime updates on the number of cases and information from our leading Public Health experts on mitigating the spread of the virus. There are also simple things that you can do every day to protect yourself and the most vulnerable populations like people over 60, people with weakened immune systems, and people with underlying conditions like diabetes, heart, and lung disease. As a physician, here is what i tell my patients. Wash your hands often with warm water for at least 20 seconds or use Hand Sanitizer with at least 60 alcohol. Cover your cop or sneeze with a tissue you can discard and immediately wash her hands. Avoid close contact with people sick. E avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth and if you feel sick, stay home. Disinfect frequently touched offices sick frequently toucd surfaces. With these basic practices, you can and will take a difference in combating this disease. America, we can do this. Together, we can defend our Nations Health and together, we can help prevent the spread of covid19 and save lives. House democrats are continuing to work hard for the people every day to protect you and your Families Health and make sure communities across our nation have the resources they need to stay safe and healthy. We have your back. Thank you. Sandersnday, bernie hold a rally in michigan i head of the states primary. Watch at 12 30 eastern on cspan, cspan. Org, or listen on their free cspan radio app. It comes out today, a campaign in which we have one candidate who is standing up for the workingclass and middleclass, we are going to win that election. Have beense who knocked down, counted out, left behind, this is your campaign. The primaries and caucuses continue tuesday for six states. Idaho, michigan, mississippi, missouri, north dakota, and washington. What our coverage of the speeches and results tuesday evening live on cspan, cspan. Org, or listen on the free cspan radio app. Next, a panel on human rights and democracy with former state Department OfficialVictoria Nuland at other analysts. This discussion was part of the conference on the state of the world and was hosted by Laura International university and the mccain institute. It is just over an hour. For each of those gathered for the state of the world conference at Florida International i salute efforts to address todays Foreign Policy challenges and the bull of American Leadership in the world. It is important to remember that what happens abroad and how people live elsewhere affects us here at home. When america turns a blind eye, we invite the evils of poverty and extremism to take root around the globe. We must Work Together to safeguard the democratic order that has provided peace,