here on cspan-2 the "the communicators" is next with gary sh shop. and then later a discussion on the >> host: gary shapiro is the president and ceo of the consumer technology association. he is our guest to talk about the future of u.s. technology also joining us is tony rom who

covers technology for politico. we will start with you mr. rom. >> we have just a couple days until the 2016 ces out in las vegas. 170,000 people and more than 3,000 companies last year. what can we expect from the 2016 expo? >> it is going to be a great event. we hit 176,000 last time. we thought that was too much and we are hoping between 150-170,000 so all guest have great experiences and hotel and air fare isn't so expensive. over 3600 exhibiting countries and 2.4 million net square foot of exhibit space up from 2.24 million in 2015. more categories than every before. it is the future, solving

problems, real life problems. it is about health care, transportation, clean food, water, production, we are solving big technology. >> one of the technologies washington had on the radar for this year's ces are what? >> they will be aroufrom all ar the world. the fcc and commissioners are coming and many others are coming and senator and congressmen as well. we want them out there. we don't want them regulating from inside the beltway. we want to see the growth they should be looking at in areas like drones, robotics, health

care, 3-d printing, automobile, huge growth. so much going there as we shift toward a driverless car. we want to be looking at technologies and others around the floor and huge area of focus and think this is our future that the free market and innovation provide and how can we make sure we stay in the lead. others are coming in saying how can we capture the lead. they have a five year plan that focuses on the patents. france has over 5,000 vendors there. we have comp taetitiocompetitio. it is good were the government to not assume we are the best in the world. >> there has been a flurry of grown news we're in washington, d.c. starting with the new requirement that consumers beginning around this holiday

season have to register their small craft with the government. cta was pretty critical on some of what the government compli t complicated. what is the organizations current take on the drone registration requirements right now? >> we were part of the committee that worked with the regulations and the government worked at lightning speed to get something done before the holiday season. we were taken aback by the $5 tax and that is an impediment to getting people to register. but the drones solve problems with prison security, protecting crops, getting medicine to people around the world, but at some point they will provide package delivery not only to your home but top of the building to top of the building to cut down on traffic.

what is our take? we have behind the rest of the developed world in the regulatory structure. >> there has been more put on the research where the drones have been sold and consumers have to register. that would be devastating.

it was moving too slowly. including all of the nations' companies that are trying to build and sell drones are moving quicker. they mean well but their objective is safety. there are safety issues connected to drones. >> there are privacy issues connected with that as well. that is one of the big policies hanging over when you have devices that collect information and deliver services in new ways. have those privacy fears abated over the years since we have been talking about the technology and growth of the ces? have companies found that balanc balance? is privacy one of the top

issues? >> guest: i think privacy is something some people care about. but i think we have to balance privacy and legit concerns that people have against the fact products are coming which make as fundamental difference in our lives. you cannot assume all of your information is private. if you in a car going over a pot hole that information should be shared.

i think stopping terrorism is important. >> guest: it means evil people could get back doors and it solves nothing. to say that we have to design the products to the chinese and

reflecti reflecting. all of these disruptive companies like uber and lyft and industries and no one understand the world is changing. this is done through empowerment and choice and allowing consumers to do business with each other. that is why we made the disruptive council and that is why we are saying stop using the government. but they are united and willingness to embrace change.

that is what ces is about. hopefully we never will do this but we have to say be open to change because that is what the economy thrives on. innovation, technology, and the free market. >> let's talk about the name change. you mentioned the council and how does that work differ from what a cta does? >> guest: not at all. it is part of the consumer technology administration. we have counsels and committees and this is a hand select group of customers.

we spent a lot of time debating toward disruption. the only meaning definitions were very negative giorda. the new world the way it looks that it is very positive. the disruption we are trying to get across the concept of market research and sharing research but innovation is how we are evaluating each of the 50 states as to whether they are

pro-innovation or anti- innovation. we grade each state and the results will be very smooth. the first quarter the year showing these are good good states would have to improve game if they want to be considered prohibition. >> host: we have seen some of the political back-and-forth. are the states a bigger concern for the tech companies in the federal government right now? >> guest: that's hard to say. some states are more aggressive in a way which isn't helpful for example and recycling issues. it's a state-by-state and that's really challenging for national industries try to get products out. some issues like privacy, intellectual property and trade and immigration of the federal government. >> host: gary shapiro wanted the issues we talked about quite a bit on this program and here in washington is the issue of net neutrality. as it works its way again through the court system what is your view on it? >> guest: well net neutrality

is a concept is a good thing. the way the federal government has chosen to go about it in a russian-based innovation approach is not healthy. we can regulate anything and we are starting to see now t-mobile the chairman of the sec of the fcc at one point that it's a great thing what they're doing with a new plan. now they are saying we have to question to give us information you have to ask us permission. i think this is a dangerous path with net neutrality. i think it was working great. we have been planning for net neutrality for 15 years. we got everyone to agree on principles like the fcc and everything was fine. it's still uncertain whether federal government had to step in and say we have to do this by law and come up with a very strained version that clearly his court challenge. we don't know what the results of that will be that net neutrality in principle is good and i think everyone is a consensus that is good but the fact that companies need to have differential pricing we need to do what we can to encourage broadband competition.

this broadband competition you don't need that much net neutrality is that consumers could choose their internet provider based on cost and pricing options and the ability to get out of a contract if the broadband provider changes the rules that they probably would be less important. >> host: what about the upcoming spectrum auction's? >> guest: spectrum auctions are very important. it's a little complex. i'm not going to deny the fact that you are not -- it's not a slam dunk. we need that spectrum desperately. americans are going to have wireless broadband and we need to spectrum for it. so we have to give this a try and hopefully it will work and if it doesn't we will try something else that would need to spectrum. the government spectrum also we would like to see more of that become available. there are great proposals and we will be pushing for those as well.

>> host: finally when it comes to the ces show you're going to have all five fcc commissioners on the panel. we also think kurds and to get to the floor? >> guest: of everyone who comes to encourage it. generally 99% of them do when we have government officials come. some of them have to go in and out and that's unfortunate because part of excitement is be experience of the show and seeing the excitement and what they are offering is just huge. multiply that by thousands and they learn and talk to real inventors and talk to engineers and executives. they go out there and every chairman has done a great job of going to see the exhibits and that's what they generally do. what we have going is an incredible challenge in the ethics rules. the ethics rules say you are in an out and getting into place like los angeles and have crazy things. we have generally costarred

guess in senior leaders from other countries and executives from around the world in our government executives sometimes stand out side because they're not allowed to go into the ethics rules. the ethics rules of the biggest detriment to the effect that our government has an obligation to help us with local events where we get to 2000 people from outside the united states. i go to my competitor show in germany and see angle angola merkel is there greeting everyone and yet we have rules and complacency where we are just not allowed to have our government do its job and welcome international visitors and focus on the fact that this is what we are doing in the united states. talk to the committee chairs and i should be thankful. a lot of them pay their own way which i think is unfortunate on the government salary and they can go to dinners which is unfortunate. >> host: tony romm. just go on the flipside you can consider former lobbying.

you are talking about looking for access to the government regulators and that which he defined some of those policies? >> guest: is providing information experience which is more irksome asking legislators to make the decisions without firsthand experience. that gets into trouble. i think they're experts and we embrace both sides of an issue. we have lobbyists who are totally against this. they are out there debating we present both sides of the issue and put them in a open. we don't have many secrets about what we do with the legislature. they're doing their job. they should be there and in my view they are less likely to go to do a good job legislating a regulating. we are certainly not buying access. we are seeing the world first-hand. anytime a legislator gets out of washington to go elsewhere in the world is good thing.

they need that experience to make reasonable judgments whether it's for a sword gives dust. >> guest: talking about drones is one of the technologies on display. another one that looks like to me as virtual reality technology. there seems to be a lot of those set up. is that industry concerned about washington? we haven't heard too much but it seems like the sort of thing washington will take a look at. what is that industry think? >> for chalabi is totally made up. it's a home in the area as well. when you are putting yourself in a situation modeling a piece of furniture at as of the book in your house or something like that. so there are commercial applications for that. virtual reality is more training oriented but i'm not sure what regulators will be focused on. the companies that are in that

space are so big they're trying to compete with each other. i would guess they are not thinking that much about washington. guess the one of the major companies in the state which i don't believe is at ces this year publicly is one of the third virtual reality companies to set up shop here in d.c.. what is that tell you, what does that tell you about this industry where other industries are up-and-coming and the way they are leaving washington now as opposed to a few years ago. >> guest: certainly microsoft is making the mistake of ignoring washington and facebook and google try to learn from it that as the succeeding get bigger everyone wants to take shots at them and also you are diverting money from someone else and trying to -- it's probably defensive more than anything else. we have to know what's going on and when you come up with only thing whether air bnb or snapshot -- snapchat or someone

like that how the snapchat request to do an e-mail notification to other customers? they can't. some of the old rules don't apply to these new technologies and new ways of doing things and that's why they need family representation in the world where there are thousands of regulations on the books and thousands being proposed. that's the biggest challenge to new business prescient today. it's not ideas or even technology. it's how do you comply with all the government regulations that you don't even know are out there? >> guest: we have also seen a proliferation of groups that represent these companies. is there an arms race among these groups to be the voice of a particular industry? is not business as much as it is politics. >> guest: actually these are nonprofit groups. we all played by the same rules that we are colleagues and work together.

the more people you think europe the more people that are at it it's a free market and the more the merrier as far as i'm concerned. >> host: gary shapiro data security and data breaches are a big issue in 2015. if is there going to be some displays on that kind of security? >> guest: we have a whole new area focused on cybersecurity and personal security and that's an issue. obviously it's an issue for government and it's an issue for major commercial, any commercial company but it's also seeping into the fact that we are going to the internet of things with over 1000 companies showing internet of things connected products. if someone wants to -- there are issues that the auto industry is dealing with and can you get into a car? at the more serious issue and it deserves a serious approach. some of the things i like

whether you can have your garage door open and we had to with these issues in different ways. technology in a sense creates a problem. technology provides a solution that we also have to train our kids and our employees and others to be cyber smart and not click on that attachment. so yes there is a focus to be consulted. >> host: when "the communicators" is gone to vegas to the show one of the things we found is that at the sands hotel separate from the convention center is emerging technology or new startup companies. >> guest: yeah. we are so focused on startup companies. when i joined the organization organization before a joint i heard this is why we have a show for anyone with an idea to expose thousands of investors and reporters like yourself. we have eureka park which is a subsidized area for startups. a few years ago we have 80 and now we have over 500.

we have a waiting list. you have to have certain criteria and it's an exciting area. you are seeing engineers and entrepreneurs and innovators with ideas exposing thousands of people off the view. they all leave with a different concept that then they came in with about house they should launch the business. a lot of them are acquired, won't the million-dollar investments made by people like mark cuban. it's also throughout the show. we do use this convention for that and many other things like wireless help another technology. three of the top 10 convention centers in the country of las vegas we are using all of them for different things. >> host: is this opened the public? >> guest: it is not open to the public. we are trying to restrict attendance this year and we are careful to screen the public out. >> host: why? >> guest: first of all is a

business event in the public has a different sense than asking questions about where i can buy this while the business to business people are saying how can i have this product ready for next year's holiday season or i like like this or i don't and if you modify this i will go at it. the feedback relationship and unlike european events which are open to the public we believe in our exhibitors want basically to trade there. the truth is with 150,000 people every one is a consumer so there people going to other areas. a lot of what's going on in the business world today has radically changed the last 10 years. today you must go across industries and that's why we have everyone focusing on the auto industry the broadcast to cable to satellite to wall street. around the world coming to las vegas because it's across segment doing business. we have three hotels focused on chief marketing officers on companies like google and amazon.

there are new ad tech platforms to get your message out and they want to see and talk to each other and see the newest technology. it's a convergence marketplace and they are all business people. you have to be a businessperson to go. >> guest: following up on both the points you made when it comes to the public and their increasingly gap between the technology on display at ces in what consumers are doing and the ways they're using technology? they would suggest that some of these tvs you see in smart home technologies aren't the things sending up a consumer's homes after they are shown on display. >> guest: the company has put out products some of which will never go to market because it doesn't get a good reception from those who make a difference like investors and partners. but having said that there are tremendous things going on in the audio area. high-performance sound is back.

ultra-hd is a grand slam home run and getting better with higher resolution phenomenal colors. everyone in hd wants one. in the wireless things like that these are products which are up double-digit every year. the fact that the time warner products like smartphones and tablet have gotten immediate penetration in a few years. it's a matter of expectation. the company sees tremendous opportunity. a huge investment going on and people are buying products. what i have around my wrist are my steps and heartbeat. these products didn't exist in 10% of the public -- population has them. basic joy and cynicism in some of the trade reporters that cover technology, we embrace technology in this country and there's huge room for growth. around the world as well because

they are solving real-life problems and helping with what we eat in helping agriculture mobility so they're making huge difference. >> guest: in 2016, 2016 as the election pretty sure. he recently wrote an op-ed talking about marco rubio for a candidate i believe. why do you think rubio is the candidate of choice for republicans in november? >> guest: well it's obviously a personal view but i do have a position in the reason i do is because he's the only one talking about innovation talking about the dynamism of the american economy. there's a whole chapter in the book about uber. it relates to the average american person. people are using uber in so many different ways to get to work to get away from public transportation. i'll be startups are out there. what we have seen from the obama administration, this proposal

out there that everyone unless you make $50,000 a year will kill any startups. proponents denying the right to use insurance. we have spent over $50,000 just to higher interest because we have to put them on obamacare. this is not good for people graduating college. i see marco rubio it -- rubio someone willing to talk about the issues that i haven't seen any other candidate on the stage talking about this in any way at all. that's what i appreciate about senator rubio plus he has taken a reasonable approach to immigration. he's one of the creators of the startup act which allowed crowd funding. he is focused on innovation is creating jobs and that's the discussion this country should be having. obviously i don't agree with his positions on some issues or a lot of other candidates positions on issues but in terms of innovation these are candidates that the tech

industry should be talking about because of what he sang. >> guest: the tech industry is mostly talking about hillary clinton if you look at the donation numbers. many startups on the democratic side of the ledger. why hasn't rubio gained the traction in silicon valley that he and other supporters would like to have? >> guest: the challenge with the tech industry faces is they are promiscuous in their campaign. they support candidates on social issues and that leads to donations without regard to where they stand on technology innovation. i think that's unfortunate and it's gradually changing. i think it's up to the tech community if they want to give money to candidates like hillary clinton they should be challenging innovation support patent reform. all these issues of major importance and especially reversing sunday's policies we have seen from the obama just

ms -- administration. it's difficult for kids out of college to work protect companies because the growing issue. it's a problem not only with tech starters but the defense industry and where this is coming from. we have to start talking about that and that's what silicon valley should be talking about. >> host: finally gary shapiro you've introduced an old technology to the ces show which is look. you have a book club or book section at ces. if somebody goes to the web site what kind of looks will they find? >> guest: books focusing on innovation and technology. i successfully launched two of my books at ces and our economist launched a third in 2015. so we said why not give other authors opportunities. it was phenomenally successful. people still read whether it's the old thread -- we found lots

of authors want to have their book fair. we have a huge number of submissions and we have criteria about to be released book and it has to do with innovation and technology. there's ray books there. >> host: gary shapiro presidency of the consumer technology association which sponsors the ces show in las vegas january 6 through the ninth of 2016. tony romm who'll be at the show at senior technology reporter for "politico." gentlemen, thank you very much. >> guest: thank you.