Eshoo on C-SPAN's The Communicators

Appearing this week on C-SPAN's The Communicators, Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA), a member of the House Telecommunications & Internet Subcommittee, said viewers won't "zero in" on the digital-TV transition until the last minute, which is why the government needs to let folks reapply for subsidy coupons they've already gotten but allowed to expire. Rep Eshoo said she did not believe the administration's view that the DTV-to-analog converter-box-subsidy coupons cannot be reissued to people who have let their coupons expire. "I think we will need to [extend them]," she said. "People have gotten these coupons and they are sitting around the house." Rep Eshoo, whose district includes Silicon Valley, said she thought companies should be able to track online surfing for the purposes of behavioral advertising only if their subscribers affirmatively opt in, rather than making them opt out if they don't want that information tracked, adding, "The burden should be on the company, not on the consumer." Rep Eshoo said privacy is "part of the DNA of Americans. To be able to track patterns of individuals, I do not think is anyone's business ... That seems offensive to me." She added that she did not blame people for objecting to being tracked, saying, "I would be the first one to object, whether it is a company doing it in my district or not." Rep Eshoo promised that the Network Neutrality debate would continue. "It will be raised in the next Congress, rest assured," she said. "Net neutrality is alive and well." She said telecommunications policy under President Barack Obama would include Federal Communications Commission appointments that would "not be about just a handful of interests," but that would incubate newborn companies to allow them to compete, to become the next Comcast.