♪ [applause] .. >> with everything going on in

the house, what are the chances there will be telecom or cyber-related legislation passing the house this year? >> when you look at the big picture, i think overall you will see the house settled down. we will chose a speaker, basically the problem we have right now, peter, is what i call a growing pains problem. we are a big party with a big tent. you have moderate republicans, you have very conservative republicans, and having everyone agree on a leader and agree to come to the table and work things out is going to be an important first step. so i think you will see us kind of work through that. and then you are going to see the issues of the economics, the debt ceiling, the omni bus, and then the nuts and bolts of the

technology policy. that is an area where the innovators are telling us we want things done whether it is copyright or patten, fair pay fair play, or looking at the push you are getting from the fcc via the net neutrality order. >> well, let's begin with that net neutrality, something you have been very active on. is it out of congress' hands at this point? >> no, i think that there are still things that congress can do. you have the internet freedom act that is out there. it is a bill that i filled -- it has been around three years -- and that would negate the order and actions of the fcc when it comes to net neutrality. net neutrality, interestingly enough, is one of those policies that there was bipartisan opposition to in the house.

but the agency, the fcc, moved forward on its own to execute this order and to carry out a reclassification of interest services and move it into the title two which allows them to apply the archaic telephone rules to the service. whether they are a major provide, a consumer, the more people know about the actions the fcc is taking, the less enamored they are with what was net neutrality. i think one of the reasons for that is because when the term net neutrality started it was to cover that last mile of service and being certain there was an equal access provision. net neutrality has become putting government in line to

precede your internet service provider and all other options. and they are the ones that basically have the choke hold and the poll position when it comes to utilization of that spectrum and application of the broadband. >> your bill has been in the congress for three years but hasn't gone anywhere. now the fcc has acted would you foresee action this fall? >> i think the more aggressive the fcc is getting on the issue the more people are saying we need to rein them in on this. we had a letter that 14 of us signed and sent over to the fcc expressing our concerns about what they were doing via privacy and reclassification. we are working on an amicus brief we will file also. >> joining on conversation is

john from "the wall street journal." >> you mention the end of the year decisions that congress has to make. one of those is obviously on spending. is there something you can do through that process to address your concerns about net neutrality? is there some way -- >> there are. and as we do appropriations and work through the process there are writers that are placed on how money can be used that limit the actions that an agency can take. in times past, it has been the will of the house to restrain the use of funds via the fcc for t the implementation of the net neutrality order. that is a way you will see them pull them back into line so to say they are not just jumping out and taking this authority that is not there for them to take. certainly, when you look at the reclassification actions they

have taken and the way they have moved forward on privacy. privacy is not the jurisdiction of the fcc. there is a federal government agency that does oversee privacy and it is called the federal trade commission. you are going to see the ftc kind of get into this push and shove and fight with the fcc a little bit about the utilization and the protection of the privacy rights of the consumers. >> there is a court challenge. how do you think that is going to play out? if the rules are upheld by the courts do you think that will increase the chances that congress steps in? >> i think that if they are upheld you do see that. >> i think the ruling should be in our favor.

there was the courts and what they will say in order to take the next action. >> do you think congress is waiting for the courts to weigh in to some degree? >> there is always going to be a little bit of that even though we have bills filled and actions in processed. we continue to take actions, conduct oversight, produce letters and file letters with the agency so we have that record of activity. then of course when you have a divinitive delivered by the court you can taylor the action taken. >> talk about what it would take for congress to pass action rewriting the communication act of 1934 which has been around for a while. how hard would it be? >> i think it would be a labor

process. you have to look at pulling back the net neutrality order. internet services, which are information services, shouldn't have been includeded in the 1934 act which is telecommunication services. those are very different entities. that is the first consideration in a removal of the net neutrality order. or passing the interned freedom act which would be a prohibition of the actions of that order are certainly an act that congress could take. when you look at those producing content and talking with the content producers, they are very

upfront that there is confusion that is generated by the net neutrality order, confusion generated by the classification, and the way innovators are expected to work with the fcc. they would appreciate seeing a simplification of how we move forward with this because they are looking for a format and platform to push content forward into the marketplace. >> representative blackburn, te te te telecom overhaul was mentioned and you said it was quite a bit of labor but haven't they been doing similar things? >> yes, absolutely. but it will not be a simple

two-page bill. you will not get everything done that would be a simple part of that process. you can go back and look at the work done in, i guess, 2005 when we were doing some work on some of these actions. go back even that far and look at the incremental work that has been done. absolutely. it is done in a thoughtful manner and with a great amount of diligence. the members in the staff are very attentive to this. my point is it it is not something that is simple and easy. it does take digging into the issues because you have technologies that have advanced, delivery systems that are changed, and one of the things we have learned as you look at

transmission content is you cannot do things that are technology-specific. you have to begin to look at some of the utilization of the content travelling. it takes time, and it takes a thoughtful approach, and really digging into the issues to be concern that you are not going to take actions that are harmful or counterproductive. >> the essence of the rules is they subject the companies to what are called common carrier requirements. do you think the whole idea of common carrier is outvoted in some ways? or should it be rewritten or reconceived to apply to more modern times? >> this is one of those things where you would want to have a discussion.

you would want to say this, abc and d. i cannot give you a pet answer. do we need to look at it and consider the fact maybe it is one of those things that has outlived it's usefulness might be the right way to say that. certainly the common carrier provisions would be something that would be ripe if you will for a discussion. how can this be modernized and produce a more effective end product. >> this is an area where congress tried to pass legislation this year. what is holding it up? what is the outlook? >> you know, when you look at the security issues, you are exactly right. you have the data security bill

that we are have worked forward to the point where we have the language right and are ready to move it forward. what the hold up is? i wish i knew because we would like to move it forward. here is kind of the problem that we are facing and what is in front of us. if you go back to 2005, you have the first data breach. that was the choice point data breach. and since that period of time, you have the information of tens of millions of americans that has been exposed through data breaches. 2014 was termed the year of the breach. this was the kind of breach that cost our economy billions every year and cost our economy billions of jobs.

data breaches are thousands of jobs. 508,000 jobs is the estimation of how many jobs that it cost. now, here is what has happened. as individuals become subjected to the breaches, and many have, they have come to realize it is not if you have your data breached, it is when is your data going to be breached. so having a federal standard and exercises preemption and setting a period of time, a framework of time that companies have to conduct that information, and then to inform penalties and set them for enforcement, that is the steps that should be taken and that is what is covered in the data security legislation we

worked on at the energy and commerce committee and are ready to see that legislation on the floor or have it moved to the floor. this is something consumers want to see. right now, companies can hide behind well, we are domiciled here and think the breach occurred here. there is 47 different state laws. they can kind of run out a period of time, or extend the period of time before consumers are told about the breach and access on their information. we would like to have the federal standard so that people do know what has transpired and there are set standards companies know they have to provide this set of consumer information information. with the ftc there is this set of enforcements with penalties

for a set amount. that is what is embodied in the bill. >> you mentioned 2014 being the year of the breach. how is 2015 looking? what is the future holding? is this problem going to get bett better or worse? >> at this point, the problem is not getting better. we have had significant breaches, as you all are aware, this year. they are far too common place. they are very troubling to consumers whether it is health information being breached or financial information that is being breached. now, one of the things that we do know is all are bad actors that are housed in other places around the world. and maybe these are people that do not wish us well. it is their full-time job. they sit there trying to hack into our companies. we know that our critical infrastructure is hit thousands

of times every single week. and our financial service structure, some of the enterprise systems there, some of the closed systems, some of the open source systems, we know that this is an existing problem. and you need to have those rules of the road, if you will, that are going to lay this out because we tonight see a diminishment in the problem. we do see an increase in the problem. we need to move forward and say we need to do something on data security is because of the open source nature of the internet. if you go back and look how the internet started where you had four different computers in four separate locations with four known operators our

administrators for those systems and everything was open source and everyone involved in the loop was a known entity then you had that assurance built into the network that you were not going to have an intrusion into that network. today what we know is because of bad actors, rogue websites, and rogue financial networks that you do not have that kind of role is played. they need to play a role in back stopping this. there was an effort years back with sopa and hippa to have profissions in there that would have encouraged and allowed the isp's to block some of these

rogue actors. we know as these bad actors seek entrance into our systems, whether they are financial or health care or critical infrastructure, is that what we have to do is increase our surveillance in looking for the bad actors and the malware or spy ware and these algorithms that are embedding themselves in our networks. >> congresswoman, my guess is that everybody in congress, house and senate, agrees something needs to be done so what is the hold up on passing the cybersecurity legislation? >> i don't know what the hold up exactly is. i guess it is the will of the body. my hope is once we get through the issues with the speaker and resolve the issues there, the financial issues/debt ceiling issues, you will see this move

forward. it certainly is an issue that is talked about when we have our town halls and when consumers and voters come to it town halls they will talk about the problems they experienced from the breach and talk about the inconvenience that is hoisted on them in protecting their data if they have experienced a breach. another issue that is kind of a related issue, but not the same, is the issue of privacy. and certainly to dig a little deeper on this, the last congress, we established a privacy working group that the energy and commerce committee and congressman welt and i chaired that to look at the issues of privacy surrounding the virtual marketplace and to look at the components necessary

for consumers have to the tool box to protect the virtual you and themselves and presence online so you know you are transacting your business and participating in e-commerce which is convenient. their information online is being protected and they need to know that that it is not being pulled and used or it is not being used against their will or without their permission. >> now we have been talking about the problems that the internet is facing these days. aside from those problems, how do you see the future of the internet shaping up? what gets you excited about the internet and what are the new uses and applications that you see? >> yeah, and i think that it is -- it is just amazing to me the amount of potential that is there.

let's flip to health infomatics if you will will. as you look at a delivery system for health care, going into areas that are underserved, or have difficulty in accessing health care, being able to utilize the concept and transmit digital images for x rays and review of scans. think about the convenience that is for an underserved or remote area that does not have access to a specialist? that allows those trauma centers and primary physician providers, nurse practitioners, to be able to work with a specialist miles away, and then get that patient

to the appropriate place, to the appropriate care. so you can think about that as a convenience item. you also think about working with some of your federally qualified health centers when they are working with individuals and are able to collect and bring in information utilizing an ipad or a tablet and then provide some certainty around that and give directions to the patient using that health software. in the 21st century cure bill, we embodied the software act that deals with these provisions and would put the fda in the right lane when it comes to dealing with health care and software. this is such an exciting field. when you look at the m-health

app, what it will do is to say, fda, if something has a life or death consequence, and you are looking at software that is embedded into a defibilator or implant that needs to go to the fda for oversight. if it is there for informational purpose, we will send it over here to the marketplace because it requires a learned int intermediary. as we move forward with precision medicine that is directed more specifically to the individual for their health and wellness, you have the

utilization of ipad for that patient and capturing data and information and doing predictive diagnose for how someone is going to handle certainly protocols or therapy and what is the next step. there is a whole new usage and utilization there that will bring about more possibilities for better outcomes. when you look at just the internet there, with that health information, you are looking at better outcomes, greater par s advertiparticipation, you can b bl -- you can put blue tooth into technologies and make sure people take pills and therapy at the appropriate time, eliminate travel times, eliminate some outpatient entrances and exits, or hospitalizations.

so, i think there is an opportunity for savings and better outcomes that are embodied in that. let's look at the entertainment side. when you talk about the internet and usage you are looking at a delivery system model which we basically call over the top when it comes to technology because you are not going through a table or tv system or broadcast system. you are jumping it with the wireless and the utilization of carrying that in and your product delivery is like a streaming service and that requires higher speeds and greater bandwith and we want to make sure that broadband is expanded and the higher speeds are expanded into more communities. but i think the days are fast

passing that people are going to view a regularly scheduled program at a regularly set time. what they are going to do is access and carry their entertainment with them and plug it into a dumb screen and pull it down at-will and when they want to. i think my two grandsons, who love utilizing their ipads and enjoy pulling into the cartoons and movies, they will have that ability to carry their entertainment product with them. i find it interesting you are beginning to see major motion picture releases look at releasing direct to the consumer as well as to the theaters. that just shows you how quickly

the transition is coming with the use of that broadband and the internet with carrying that product directly to the consume

money on it. those performers are receiving no performance pay at all. that is something that is unfair as this business model has evolved. performers no longer show up to the radio station, play a show and get paid as they walk out the door. those days are gone. it is all done through digitalized music. >> let's finish where we started. we talked about the house leadership changes going on. what about at the enc committee? would you be interesting in being the chairman? >> we have a great chairman with fred upton. we need at a -- we need to focus on getting the energy, telecommunication, and data and security bills and not look at that. people want us to take action. they are