Transcripts For CSPAN The Communicators 20160206 : vimarsana

Provider. And this week on the look at some of the issues that will be faced by the tech community, congress and government in 2016. We have a roundtable of working reporters to talk with. Cory bennet is with the hill. There. Rs cybersecurity Kate Tummarello works for politico and covers technology. Beyoud is with bloomberg b. N. A. Where she telecommunications. One of the biggest coming up are march. Ctrum in march 29 is the official tokoff date for broadcasts relinquish some of their spectrum. Theyll be looking to either go out of business or possibly into channel sharing agreements with their colleagues. And a few months after that, potentially, that will wrap up sideell see the wireless start. Were looking at other potential bidders as well, such as comcast announced today that they might also be bidding for some of that broadcast spectrum. Months of be several close attention on the f. C. C. And its auction. Months. Ou say several so most of 2016 well be talking orut the spectrum auctions looking at it . F. C. C. Officials have said theyre looking at the auction closing sometime in the third of this year. Closing in the third quarter. Kate tummarello, is there interest on the hill in the auctions . Tons of interest. Seen a lot of lawmakers kind of ramp up their activity in this area, just because all constituents want faster cell phone networks. So the House Committee has looked at this somewhat and the committee,erce theyre very interested in pushing the mobile now bill, really aggressively. Hes been very eager to move that. Delayed twice now in markups. So hopefully he wants to move in few weeks. Why the delay . I think theres been some concerns in the administration that the Defense Department doesnt want to give up all this spectrum that hes identified. Looking at government spectrum . Yes. Upe the broadcasts give their stuff, it kind of moves on to the federal government and the Defense Department has a lot of it. They tend to be very quiet about what they do with it because of concerns. Ecurity i think theres been a lot of push and pull and give and take between the Telecom Community the Defense Community to find a happy medium where people spectrum they need. Lydia beyoud, how will these auctions change our lives as consumers . The think for consumers on broadcast side, the goal is that you wont notice much difference, technology after we did the t. V. Transition. That should hopefully be seamless. Innovationpe for opportunity is on the wireless side with potentially new the wirelessn market or much faster video speeds. By 2020, a lot of companies are talking about bringing into existence the fifth Generation Networks that are really going to power the internet. The incentive auctions are critical sort of a platform for them to be able to do that. Cory bennet, daytona kate mentioned Kate Tummarello mentioned national security. Highprofile,f highly publicized security breaches. Is there a solution that the federal government can come up with . Is there a solution that the with . Ss can come up its a solution that comes in many pieces. Constantlyrain you hear on capitol hill is no silver bullet. Step in 2015. Rst backers of a major cybersecurity called theately 2015, thatecurity act of was signed into law just before the new year, late december. Through as part of the budget bill, you know, the 1. 15 trillion budget deal. And the idea behind that is that it is a first step in terms of people to understand more about the hacking threats that the country faces. Of the bill, which, you know, the white house was on board, had broad bipartisan support. Many Industry Groups were on board. Toy said we want to be able share more information with the government and have the government share information with us. Legal Liability Protections when we do that, the idea being if they are able to more quickly see the hacking threats out there, perhaps one company, say, home depot gets we could mitigate the fallout from that, because we could more quickly tap the solution toor a that problem. We can also tell other companies to look out for that specific hack, where in the past companies have felt a little hindered from sharing that information because of legal concerns. So the idea that this will help. Stop hacks,help however. Proponents of the bill are very clear about this. To see datagoing breaches in 2016. Come fromill going to foreign states such as china, such as iran, such as russia as these massive cybercrime syndicates that were seeing. Hope is this will help the pare down down the size of these breaches. Privacy bille involved with it. From civil libertarians, there was this coalition on capitol hill that was very vocal that combined kind of, you know, the libertarians with the privacyminded democrats. And, youcame together know weve already seen the introduction on the house side. People are not only mad at the bill. Their main problem is that its going to lead to unfettered sharing of peoples personal the governmenth and that information, because of the bill, automatic sharing provisions in the bill will be widely disseminated throughout the federal government, including intelligence agencies. Given the snowden leaks, the ongoing distrust of the n. S. A. , thats very concerning to privacy advocates. Kate tummarello, its an election year. Happen . His going to i mean, it seems like, you know, people are already thatring for the slowdown comes with an election year. But i think theres still a lot andet done and lawmakers the f. C. C. , theyre not going to stop anytime soon. Privacy is actually a big issue that comes up in the election. Six orres a list of seven bullet point teams that congress items that Congress Says theyre going to get done before they adjourn for the election. And surveillance is one of those things. Already started talking about it. Last year, Congress Passed the freedom act, which reformed the patriot act, which allowed them collect the controversial phone record data. Next year, another provision is to do withat has online surveillance. Congress is already starting the conversation about reforming law so its less concerning to the Digital Privacy advocates cory mentioned. Thats something they have to tackle in the next year, and theyve already started. Even though it will definitely slow down, especially things like privacy, which every voter knows about people care about privacy. These things will continue to be on the front burner. True. Ts theres also a privacy debate going on at the f. C. C. With neutrality rules. While the f. C. C. Has sort of been kicking this new rule theng down the line for past several months, perhaps in anticipation of a court ruling Net Neutrality case argued back in december, are alreadyocates out asking the f. C. C. To provide a lot of issues related to what you were just talking about, with regard to notifying consumers when a data breach has also the thought is they want the f. C. C. To require isps to obtain affirmative consent from consumers before and possibly share that data later on. Be on thelikely to hill, particularly doing f. C. C. Oversight hearings. There asto play out well. Yes. Its interesting that you theioned the movement at f. C. C. , because on data breach notification bills on the hill, like were going to see a lot of movement. There are so many options, on both the senate side and house side. And there constitute seem to be doesnt seem to be much of a unifying support behind any of the offerings. Weve only seen more bills come on this topic since then. Ostensibly, they Want Companies to be required to tell the government within a set time when theyve had a breach. Most of these bills set a minimum Data Security standard that are handling sensitive data. But i would imagine, and what im hearing from people im to, is that in an election year, no movement at all. Especially with the fizzing already out the door. They expended a lot of getting thatital through. I think any bipartisan company its probably been expended. Lydia beyoud, you mentioned ruling. Neutrality two things. Number one, what is the privacy issue involved with Net Neutrality that you brought up . Also, help us untangle how thats going to play out in 2016. Well, the privacy issue with is how Internet Service providers are collecting what they do with it. Youll see many isps already why is it argument, okay for us to be regulated by the f. C. C. On this issue when other companies that also lot of data, like facebook or google, do similar with that . Sort of the flip side of that is consumer groups say, well, youre not just controlling where people go but youre also controlling how they get there. Going to beobably one of the key debates. There are a lot of policy say, youut there who know, isps maybe dont have as you think they do, particularly as we move around from our mobile to our computer various devices, sort of the data might get chopped up a little bit. But the f. C. C. Is going to be at all of those aspects and eventually coming out a proposed rule making that people will get to really get their teeth into later on. Thend the larger issue of Net Neutrality, a potential ruling, when would you expect a ruling by the court . Most of the people ive spoken with are putting it at or around april april, i believe. Yeah. So it could be earlier, could be bit later. But most people think that the court wants to be expeditious with the ruling. Kate, what could change . Isi think that the timeline really interesting, because weve seen a lot of activity in congress again on Net Neutrality. This is something weve seen for the last year, as long as this has been an issue. Been interested. But recently the committee actually started moving on Net Neutrality bills. So they moved a bill from makes permanent an exception for small businesses, that wouldved a bill prohibit the f. C. C. From using a rateeutrality rule for regulation. These are all kind of, you know, small things that chip away at the order, but obviously, you the Court Strikes it down or if the court holds it up up, that changes the game entirely for the legislative battle. Then you still have one saying working on a bipartisan Net Neutrality bill. Hes insistent that hes still doing it and theyre getting close to a deal. Upholds the rules, theres really no reason for democrats to come to the table on a deal. Down theurt strikes deals, theres no reason for republicans to come to the table on a deal. So this will change a lot in of the dynamic on the hill regarding Net Neutrality. Also, one to have key there as well is that the court might uphold only part for your Cable Companies, your wire line, maybeand providers but not wireless, so you could end up sort of with split regulations possibly and the have to go back and redo the rules and that could create tumult on the hill as well. When it comes to election 2016 and some of the issues you how is that going to play out . Whats interesting is you ofent seen much discussion cybersecurity broadly. It seems to be an issue that into, are afraid to weigh potentially revealing a lack of knowledge. Ben carson issued a cybersecurity policy paperwork that was dissected very critically by the tech community. What you have seen is encryption the forefront in the wake of the paris attacks, and both the terrorist attacks in both paris and san bernardino. Cybersecurity is brought up constantly, as parts of a privacy discussion. Earlier aboutg privacy. Encryption is an issue that many feel very strongly about, in the private community, in the tech community, that we need unbreakable encryption in banking,protect online online shop og, those kind of everyday activities that people dont realize are reliant on encryption. They say that any access to type ofon, any guaranteed a access to inkreptin inherent encryption introduces nefariousity, to hackers, foreign spies. Obviously the pendulum has swung wake of these terrorist attacks. Law enforcement and many of the republican president ial candidates as well as the democratic president ial candidates, weve seen a lot of of them infrom both the sense that they want Law Enforcement to have some type of to that data, whether its when theyre served with a court order or whether theyre to buy a bill. From seen a lot of that the republican side. And on the democratic side, weve seen talk of, well, we them on ark with voluntary basis. We dont want to mandate a here but weck door want to work with them. Hopefully they can give us data voluntarily. The view from congress on this . Well, i think one of the interesting things about the of howion debate is kind global the perspective is, because a lot of members will say we mandates, that apple give us access to currently which are encrypted. What if the terrorist groups can then just move to a russian based company, where there is no back door . Of werest kind whackamo at that point. Were just kind of beginning these conversations in earnest. I think this is the kind of thing its not even like the administration has a cohesive this. Ctive on this is definitely an interesting conversation. I think its really just starting. Whats interesting about that that you as you mentioned, the white house has not onessarily put its foot down this. And we can expect the white house to do that, perhaps in the coming weeks. This is something they said, in they were going to issue an updated stance on encryption policy. The new year. Nd the new year has come and gone. Were into february. It. Ave not seen but it can be expected soon. A lot of people are looking to house to kind of lead the debate here, because congress, i dont think, is this. To go anywhere on there are perhaps multiple proposals, some for guaranteed for a National Commission to discuss the issue. But really, i think everyone is looking to the white house to put their foot down and leave the discussion here. We could see that updated policy weeks. In the coming as you mentioned, theres a lot of debate at these higher levels, within the government itself, ongoing effort between the justice department, securities and exchange commission, state department, to do not only information sharing but also withes their counterparts abroad. So while the administration and work ons continue to this, theres still quite a bit of action thats being done at level. Ncy i think its interesting, i mean, just, you know, kind of going off that, weve seen with safe harbor deal that was just or what are they calling it . A wonderful rebranding. Weve seen that and we also have a lawyou know, even Enforcement Agreement between the e. U. And the u. S. To share about crimes, transatlantic, share that data. They are often contingent on the u. S. Strengthening its own laws. Y yeah. And the senate is going to have to vote on the judicial redress is this hugech condition of the new safe harbor deal, privacy shield. Will be interesting to see if theres any lastminute objections or if europe ends up happy with the deal that congress turned out. Its definitely very much a transatlantic debate and theres a lot of speaking past each other, just because our systems are so different. Fun to watch play out. Kate tummarello, we have 10 minutes left. Topics thate other interest you and what you foresee in 2016 . 2016 is going to be a very interesting year for internet governance. This been talking about plan for the u. S. Government to step back from its oversight ale of the domain system for long time now. It certainly feels like that. And this is the year, i think, all come to a head. I can which currently does a of the domain roles is going propose its plans for increased accountability and this transition, in the coming weeks supposedly. Going to be up to the u. S. Government to facilitate that transition plan. Congress has said in the past it doesnt want this happening. Republicans and congress hate this plan. Havent even see it yet, but they dont like the idea of the transition in general. They have had funding limitations, for years now. Know, this will be the year that it matters. If they continue to put those limitations on, that could hurt the transition. More importantly, that could the internet governance works across the world. It kind of asserts that the u. S. Bigger role than many other countries would like it to have. Well see the proposal for the soon and then well see how lawmakers react. Well, there was a delay put year, wasnt there . Yeah. I think theyve taken a lot theer to come up with transition proposal than they caught it would take. An unruelysometimes cast of unruly cast of characters. They say theyre coming down to it. Theyve reached an agreement and theyre going to propose it. If Congress Continues these funding limitations, it will be up to the administration to congress to get over that hurdle. Theres a real reluctance in there . S, isnt there is. Its interesting because there was a huge breakthrough last and, where the Energy Commerce department passed this bipartisan version of the dotcom act. It would give congress i tonk 30 legislative days review the plan. The house passed it. Overwhelmingly. It got heldenate, up by senator ted cruz, as you all know is running for president. Ironic, because that could end up costing congress any oversight. Dont keep these funding limitations in place and if they act, then the dotcom the Congress Department can do kind of whatever it wants. Cruz keeps if hes willing to move the bill now. President , becomes then all bets are off. Things could change. Lydia beyoud, another topic . Now, the f. C. C. Has kicked off a very controversial proceeding or its about to at its nextonth, meeting, with the set top box market. Tot is the box that you use navigate your table system. Its already a very fraught issue. They have talked about making it so that other companies would be able to use existing technologies and hardware to make it easier to navigate, and your cablefrom channels to your netflix or hulu. Been a coalition of companies from the pay t. V. Dishtry, everything from to at t and many others, who are opening it opposing it. But google, meanwhile, is really trying to push this as a good idea. Been doing demonstrations for hill staff staff. O for f. C. C. And theres a little bit of he going on right now between why google already has ready, when, you know, actually this whole proceeding got kicked off last year a. Yearlongalmost a report that came out in 2015. Now were sort of seeing it all as the f. C. C. Is about to unveil whats really in the new proposed rule. Well, Michael Powell was on this program a month or so ago. Cable industry Interest Group or lobbying group. And he said theyd love to get rid of the boxes. They have said that, yes. The cable industry has said we can do almost all of this with that they dont necessarily need the boxes. On the other hand, i think the say that the set top boxes are a major revenue stream for cable providers. Its been estimated that the average consumer spends about multiple cable boxes in their homes. Questionknow, its a of, where is the market going . Will the f. C. C. Be able to do something that truly opens it up in a competitive way . And how will the different able to sort of the rules into something that benefits them and the average consumers as well . Cable company, broadcast companies, netflix, amazon, are they all regulated differently or unregulated . I think they would say they are. It sort of depends on which space youre talking about. Market, cablele companies and Satellite Companies are subject to very different regulations, just between themselves. And then also with compared to edge providers. Into things like google fiber, that is a cable company. So seems like theres a little bit of redrawing of how all companies aret regulated, as more and more combine. Topic . Bennet, another well, i think the u. S. And china, the cyberrelations two countries is going to continue to be interesting. It has fallen out of the lastines somewhat in the few months, following, in september, president obama and president xi agreed to corporateto end hacking. The kind of hacking where a steals another companys intellectual property and then perhaps gives it to a domestic competitor. All analysts have said that the u. S. Economy is losing hundreds of millions, billions of dollars every year, because of this type of hacking. And they struck a deal to end this type of cyberattack. Yet howdont know thats worked. The white house has said it doesnt necessarily have a show people, to prove whether china is or is not adhering to the deal. Should see the white house in a couple of months come out with some indication of china has gone along with its promise. Results of that could actually be very telling for the future of u. S. China cyberrelations. Right before that deal was struck, there were many reports, and the white house was pretty open about this, that they were planning to sanction china, sanction companies and forviduals within china these type of cyberattacks. Theyve since come back and declined to do that. But most people imagine that they will eventually wield these will come fromt an infringement of this deal. I think its going to be very watch as these countries meet every six months to kind of flesh out this deal, was very vague when it was initially announced. And how are we going to measure youre adhering to it . What are we going to do if you run afoul of this agreement . Thats something were going to see perhaps in the next three to six months, movement in that. Could kind of speak to the entire future of u. S. China cyberrelations, which many see as normalizing right now. But it has the potential to change course very quickly, of course. Kate tummarello, im going to in my phrasing, i guess. Techsavvy are campaigns today . And how Much Technology is being election cycle . I think compared to, you ago, very, very tech savvy. Everyone talks about the obama as kind of revolutionizing the way campaigns deal with data. Theres more and more Information Online about peoples activity every day. It only makes sense that topaigns tap into that, figure out who they should be tapping to kind of on behalf of them. Its something that has definitely, you know, increased dramatically. Tech savviness in general. 12 yearsy imagine what from now will look like, especially if we all have google campaignnd ask have ads scrolling by us 24 7. Definitely very interesting to watch. Also, if you look at Something Like facebook, in addition to proprietary soft election campaigns might have, facebook is a very powerful data collection. Allows campaigns to really drill down to a very granular just what persuasion of republican or democrat might you their how to best target message towards you. I think weve seen a lot of overall. Ation but election campaigns are definitely often on the cutting edge of that. Fact hasok in republicans and democrats working on staff to help the campaigns, dont they . I believe so. Yes. Its interesting to see how facebook ande google have really gotten involved in debates this year. The last Republican Debate on fox, every single commercial break, they said, and if you google fax Republican Debate, you can be taken to a special google page that talks about the issues weve talked about. Such a synthesis right now. Somethingow, thats im sure well see a lot more of. In the last three years, has there been an increase between Tech Companies and their presence in washington . Absolutely. I think its astronomical. The big, thel Silicon Valley players. Theyre setting new records quarter. Ery and its across all of the issues that weve talk about today. Ha interesting to see where that goes, because some may argue that there hasnt of winsily been a lot for these companies on capitol hill to this point. So they are increasing funding, but they havent necessarily seen a commensurate result on capitol hill. Other way,rgue the certainly consumer groups would do so. But that will definitely be to watch. Interesting are they going to continue to increase this lobbying spending . Yeah. Definitely been interesting to kind of watch this industry grow up, in a sense, in washington. I think cory is right. There arent these huge wins. Tech industry didnt get the patent bill they wanted. Theres a lot of open things on docket the cybersecurity bill they to. Largely opposed exactly. Its interesting to see. No, they dont have the track record im sure they wish they had. I think its interesting how individual people within kind of playing a larger and larger role. Cook from apple will come out meet with members or bill gates. That has a lot of benefits, im sure. Its cool to be seen with the c. E. O. Of apple. But i think theyre trying to figure out the best way to get need from washington. Encryptionaps the debate we talked about, at the forefront, leading the fight for tech community, so that seed be a bellwether well in 2016. Its certainly become more sophisticated, also at the level and figuring out how to better tailor their messages to individual policy and their staff and really working heavily on some of the issues that theyre most about all across town. Beyoud,oundtable, lydia of bloomberg b. N. A. , Kate Tummarello of politico, and cory bennet of the hill. Cspan, created by americas Cable Companies 35 years ago and a publico you as service by your local cable or satellite provider. Democratic pm candidate hillary is in New Hampshire today. Stops includes a get out the vote rally in portsmouth. Well take you there live when that gets under way. Until then, a look ahead to the New Hampshire primary from this mornings washington journal. Nd the breakfast crowd all morning here on