FCC’s Genachowski, Sen Rubio on Same Page About Expanding ITU Authority Over Internet

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski held an online Q&A session from Twitter headquarters, telling Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) that Internet freedom is vital for innovators and speakers and a "day 1 priority of mine."

Sen Rubio had tweeted the following: "What is FCC doing to help preserve Internet freedom at #WCIT? Must oppose Internet regulation and expanding #ITU authority." FCC Chairman Genachowski and Sen Rubio are pretty much on the same page, as are Republicans and Democrats in general, on the need for continuing a multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance. The WCIT reference is to the upcoming ITU World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in Dubai.

AdWeek reports that Chairman Genachowski’s foray into social media bombed as Genachowski—set to take questions via a Twitter chat at 1:30 p.m. for a half hour—failed to show for the first 20 minutes. Apparently, Chairman Genachowski wasn't tagging his answers with the #askjulius hashtag that participants were using to send him questions. As a result, the discussion, at least for those following the #askjulius hashtag, devolved into a lot of snark.