This Week In Tech: Free Press, FCC, DHS
The season of springtime communications policy summits continues this week when the advocacy group Free Press -- a relentless critic of the Bush administration that starting getting its calls returned after Jan. 20 -- hosts a Thursday event featuring acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps and White House technology adviser Susan Crawford. The conference also will include a roundtable discussion with two former FCC chairmen, Reed Hundt and Michael Powell; Senate Commerce Committee staff member Jessica Rosenworcel; high-tech venture capitalist and Google investor Ram Shriram and Free Press Policy Director Ben Scott. It kicks off at 9:30 a.m. Thursday at the Newseum.
The Free Press summit takes place as the telecommunications community eagerly awaits a new chairman and two new commissioners for the FCC. The Senate Commerce Committee last Thursday abruptly postponed this week's scheduled confirmation hearing of Julius Genachowski to be the next FCC chairman -- amid indications that Republicans are coalescing around Meredith Baker, a former Commerce Department official, to fill a GOP vacancy on the commission. Pending that, the FCC Wednesday holds its monthly public meeting with a noticeably modest agenda -- as it stays focused on the June 12 completion of the nation's switchover to digital television.
Meanwhile, key Senate and House committees will summon Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to Capitol Hill for a series of hearings on the department's FY10 budget request, unveiled late last week. Napolitano is slated to testify Tuesday before the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee as well as the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. On Wednesday, Napolitano is scheduled to go before the House Homeland Security Committee and the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee. On Thursday, the DHS' Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee will meet to hear presentations on the US VISIT and E-Verify programs.
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