FCC official: No need for cybersecurity to hit privacy, Internet freedom

Ensuring cybersecurity doesn't mean giving up privacy or undermining Internet freedom, a Federal Communications Commission official plans to tell a House panel on Wednesday.

"Sacrificing privacy or Internet openness for security is a false choice," FCC Homeland Security bureau chief James Barnett says in testimony prepared for the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet. "We must insist on having all three, and we strongly believe that this is achievable."

Other witnesses at the hearing include officials from the Department of Homeland Security and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and Sandia National Laboratories.

The House is considering a string of bills designed to increase cybersecurity in government and private networks.