Groups Ask NTIA for More Privacy Meeting Access

Say to have a real voice, 'civil society' needs a real time voice

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/2/2012 5:30:00 AM

In a letter to the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, a dozen activist groups have called for better remote participation in the July 12 stakeholder meeting on the Administration's privacy Bill of Rights.

NTIA, which is hosting the talks, has agreed to have staffer act as proxies for those not able to attend in person to relay questions and comments, and the meeting is being webcast -- but the groups, which include the ACLU, Center for Digital Democracy, Consumers Union, say that is inadequate.

"For the multistakeholder process to be credible, civil society must be able to participate in the meetings to the fullest extent possible, and that means two-way, contemporaneous communication," they wrote, according to a copy of the letter obtained by B&C/Multichannel News.

They were reiterating their baseline suggestions for the meeting, which were issued April 2.

The groups want:

"An audio bridge with an operator to queue comments and questions via a toll-free conference line. To balance remote and in-person participation, the NTIA could alternate between taking questions and comments from people on the phone and in the room.

"An Internet Relay Chat (IRC) that people could use to make comments, which could be viewed online and projected in the meeting room."

Saying they were speaking for "civil society," the groups said that without those interactive connections, the meeting will deny them a "real" voice.

The meeting is the first of several meetings expected to last through the fall.

The White House has charged NTIA, its chief telecom policy advisor, with getting stakeholders together on a voluntary privacy bill of rights enforceable by the Federal Trade Commission. The White House is also looking to get legislative muscle behind the bill of rights, but in the meantime is pushing industry players to commit voluntarily. Violators of that commitment could then be the target of FTC action under its charter to go after "false and deceptive" claims.