John Sununu’s Telecommunications Industry Ties Scrutinized
Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, John Sununu, has come under scrutiny for his past affiliations with major telecommunications companies that sought to relax privacy regulations. Sununu, who represented New Hampshire in the Senate from 2003 until 2009, is vying for a return this year against Democratic rival, Rep. Chris Pappas.
Upon his exit from the Senate, Sununu joined Time Warner’s board—the company now known as Spectrum. Over a span of six years, he received $1.7 million in fees and stock compensation from them.
During this period, Time Warner was actively lobbying for legislation such as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), and the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). These bills aimed to allow internet service providers, like Time Warner, to block or censor websites for copyright violations.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) voiced concerns about the overly broad language of these bills, warning they could empower companies to shut down sites at will, bypassing any legal oversight. The ACLU emphasized the existing legal frameworks were sufficient for handling online copyright issues.
Ultimately, neither SOPA nor PIPA reached legislative fruition. Similarly, CISPA, which risked allowing providers to share private user information with the government, also failed to become law. The Electronic Frontier Foundation criticized it as a potential breach of internet privacy.
In 2011, Sununu was appointed honorary co-chair of Broadband for America. This telecommunications trade group opposed net neutrality, the principle of equal data treatment across the internet. “Net neutrality supporters want to overturn a two-decade consensus of light regulatory touch,” Sununu remarked during a 2014 press call.
Despite this, Sununu often presents himself as a defender of civil liberties, highlighting his 2005 filibuster against the Patriot Act’s renewal as evidence, yet frequently excluding his private sector endeavors.
Recent polling from The New York Times/Siena University indicates Pappas currently has a five-point advantage over Sununu in the race.
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