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FCC Holds Hearing on Broadband and Digital Future

July 31, 2008

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) held a hearing on "Broadband and the Digital Future" at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh last week. Expert panelists at the hearing included Robert Quinn, senior vice president of AT&T, Mark Cuban, chairman of HDNet, Mark Cavicchia, CEO of WhereverTV, Matthew Polka, president and CEO of the American Cable Association, and academics, government representatives, the American Civil Liberties Union. FCC Chairman, Kevin Martin presided over the meeting.

ACLU Addresses Privacy Concerns at FCC Hearing

As part of the FCC hearing the American Civil Liberties Union submitted comments about how deep packet inspections (DPI) and other practices threaten Americans' online privacy and a neutral Internet.

This was addressed in a statement from Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office: "The ACLU urges the Commission to scrutinize the growing practice of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) examining their customers' Internet habits. Using deep packet inspections (DPI), ISPs know everything we do online. DPI allows ISPs to have access to all of your searches, friends and family, anything you read and email, any sites you visit, and any comments you post. DPI is a virtual strip search for you and your computer."

Fredrickson continued, "This ISP practice not only threatens our online privacy, but also the neutrality of the Internet. ISPs can now use a free speech forum to discriminate based on the content of the communications. This kind of scrutiny is ripe for abuse, especially where there is money to be made. We would never give the post office the power to route mail according to the content of a letter. The Commission must ask some very hard questions about the reasons for this scrutiny."

FCC Commissioner Hearing Statements Available Online

Statements for the hearing from FCC Commissioners Michael J. Copps, Deborah Taylor Tate, and Jonathan Adelstein can be viewed at www.fcc.gov.