Jenna Greene writes:
Congressional hearings can be an uncomfortable experience for the participants. But at a hearing today on children’s online privacy by the Senate subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Insurance, the harshest words were reserved for those who were absent.
Google Inc. and Apple Inc. both declined invitations to participate, though Facebook Inc. and Microsoft Corp. dutifully sent representatives.
“I do not appreciate the fact that Apple and Google are not here,” said Sen. Jay Rockefeller IV (D-W. Va.), chairman of the Commerce Committee. “Was it too expensive to send an associate legal counsel? They couldn’t afford the plane tickets?”
“I have this power of subpoena that I’d absolutely love to use, but I haven’t yet,” he continued. “It was a stupid mistake for them not to show up, and I say shame on them.”
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