Internet Association Welcomes Thune Privacy Bill, Urges Pro-Innovation Approach
The Internet Association is committed to working with Congress as Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., looks to introduce privacy legislation (see 1808230046), Senior Vice President-Global Government Affairs Melika Carroll said Friday. The committee has been in discussions with Twitter, a member of IA, which also represents Google and Facebook, about testifying at a hearing in late September on the topic.
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IA applauded Thune and committee leadership for “starting a deliberate process to modernize our existing data privacy frameworks.” Carroll said it should be a “national priority” to maintain the U.S. as a global leader in technology.
The Senate Commerce chairman’s legislation figures to carry more weight than previous privacy bills introduced by Democrats, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Senior Policy Analyst Alan McQuinn told us. With the White House also pursuing a set of privacy principles (see 1808060035), McQuinn expects movement on privacy legislation this fall. Given IA’s response, he said he’s “almost positive” platforms will want to appear for Thune’s hearing.
Asked whether the committee has confirmed any witnesses, an aide didn’t comment but pointed to IA’s statement. Computer & Communications Industry Association Senior Policy Counsel Bijan Madhani said tech companies are getting more comfortable with the idea of privacy legislation, particularly in light of laws developing around the nation and world (see 1807120043). With states on the move, companies want to be proactive in developing “thoughtful” legislation at the federal level, he said. TechFreedom founder Berin Szoka remarked on IA’s “choice of words,” inferring the association’s priority is federal pre-emption to avoid a patchwork of “insane” laws like the one California recently adopted (see 1807120043).
Software and Information Industry Association Senior Vice President-Public Policy Mark MacCarthy called for a “uniform national privacy law.” The EU’s general data protection regulation imposes “unworkable and intrusive choices on consumers and a blizzard of compliance burdens for business,” and California’s new privacy law incorrectly focused on individual control, he said: “These developments have put privacy on the national agenda. It makes sense to work toward a better U.S. privacy framework that would replace conflicting and less protective state laws.”
McQuinn said California’s privacy law is a softer approach than the GDPR, which he compared with the Customer Online Notification for Stopping Edge-provider Network Transgressions (Consent) Act (S-2639) from Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. Both the GDPR and the Consent Act are opt-in proposals, which require data collection consent from users. The California law is an opt-out bill, which means companies can gather data until users deny collection, McQuinn said. That’s in line with the Social Media Privacy Protection and Consumer Rights Act (S-2728), a bipartisan measure introduced by Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and John Kennedy, R-La. (see 1804240046).
Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., a vocal critic of privacy abuse who privately met with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg during his April Capitol Hill visit, would be a natural bipartisan partner for Thune. His office didn’t comment, and neither did offices for Kennedy, Klobuchar, Blumenthal and Markey. Szoka questioned why Thune is taking up this effort, given the timing of the White House’s privacy principles push through the NTIA.
Madhani, whose organization has met privately with NTIA officials, along with many other industry groups from various sectors, expects a draft of privacy principles to be released by the end of September. NTIA would then solicit comment and determine if it should formulate a legislative proposal.
Szoka said that like the Obama administration, the Trump administration’s Commerce Department could take years to offer specific privacy legislative direction. He cautioned the Senate Commerce Committee against rushing its bill, calling online privacy the “single hardest issue Congress can legislate, much more complicated than net neutrality.” Madhani expects Thune, who he said understands tech issues well, to listen to all comers and not rush the process. Opt-out framework, flexible access to data, limitations on the right to be forgotten and data portability will all be important topics of conversation for industry officials, McQuinn said.