Google, Yahoo Head To The Hill
Here's a sneak peek at the expected witness line-up for Thursday's eagerly anticipated Internet advertising and privacy hearing to be held jointly by House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush, D-Ill. The event is a follow up to a session Boucher held in April that featured broadband providers. He is working on privacy legislation that he hopes will ensure Internet users a secure Web surfing experience. Rush has already introduced a separate data breach notification bill.
• Jeffrey Chester, Executive Director, Center for Digital Democracy
• Scott Cleland, President, Precursor LLC
• Charles Curran, Executive Director, Network Advertising Initiative
• Christopher Kelly, Chief Privacy Officer, Facebook
• Edward Felten, Director, Center for IT Policy, Princeton University
• Anne Toth, Vice President of Policy, Yahoo
• Nicole Wong, Deputy General Counsel, Google
Some Internet policy watchers fear the hearing might strike a decidedly anti-Google tone with Chester and Cleland on deck. Both are prominent critics of the Web giant's growing presence in Washington and in the Web marketplace. Chester's group is funded by philanthropic foundations and individual donors but does not take corporate funding. Cleland runs NetCompetition.org, whose members include AT&T, Comcast, Qwest, Sprint, Time Warner Cable and Verizon. Facebook and Yahoo have also taken heat in recent years for privacy-related practices.


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