John Kerry

I think all the members of the committee share the belief that the alliance remains vital to American security.

I think it's important--I mean, look, if you have that choice and transparency, you'd be better than you are today.

Preserving the dynamism, the innovation, the economic growth that the Internet has been such a powerful instrument of has been absolutely a guiding premise of the work that we've done.

We believe that state attorneys general along with the FTC should be the prime enforcement vehicle.

We would like to see more competition. Part of the reason to introduce a set of privacy principles, including transparency and control, is to create more of an active conversation between businesses and consumers.

I defend the American system of privacy and the commitment that we have in our laws.

We can't depend just on notice and choice. You know, that is part of the problem with the existing system.

Well, that's what we're trying to give it. That's exactly what we're doing. We've been giving this careful consideration for 2 years now.

But they're all going to be held to the same standard. The issue here is the individual American consumers' privacy.

I think all of us know that consumers in the United States are very smart.

The vast majority of Americans simply have no knowledge that their financial, health, and other personal information may be sold to data brokers

Consumers choosing how their information is going to be managed is not going to affect what people are going to offer.

Do you not have faith in the American consumer, if they're given choices, that they can make those choices?

We really can't afford another year of delay, which may in the end wind up putting America into a default position on this.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate it. And I certainly appreciate this hearing.

Every individual American has a right to an expectation of privacy.

The individual consumer has the right to make that decision.

Even if we open up areas to exploration and drilling, and we started drilling, it would be 10 years before those resources came online to meet our energy needs.

As President Obama said on May 2, we want Pakistan to be a full partner in supporting Afghan peace and stability in a way that respects Pakistan's sovereignty, interests, and democratic institutions.

And Congress should probably look pretty carefully at that playing field, shouldn't it?

Net neutrality is mandatory, because there is no question that without it you will see the absolute crushing of any competitive force.

I think President Bush, way back in 2003 or so, said we're going to have a policy that had everybody in America wired.

Indeed, the lines are blurred. In fact, it's pretty unclear right now where a lot of jurisdictions begin and where they end, and I think we're way behind the curve.

We have to protect net neutrality, I believe, and that's critical as we approach this.

I think it's critical that whatever we do we help to grow and empower and enable this innovation.