Walden, Bono Mack Schedule July 15 Privacy Hearing.

Reps. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.) are launching a series of online privacy hearings with a July 15 joint subcommittee hearing on "Internet Privacy: The Views of the FTC, the FCC, and NTIA."

Walden chairs the House Communications Subcommittee, while Bono Mack chairs the Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee.

The announcement came the same day the Senate was holding a privacy and data security hearing in the Commerce Committee featuring witnesses from the FTC, FCC and Commerce, of which NTIA is a part.

"[House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton] has asked me to take the lead in this Congress on what we need to do on U.S. Internet privacy policy, and with input from Greg Walden and my other colleagues, I'm eager to take on that challenge," said Bono Mack in a statement. Walden made the point in his statement that the inquiry was about exploring "whether legislation is needed."

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.