On February 26 and 27, the House and the Senate held separate hearings on the need for federal approaches to consumer data privacy. The House Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee’s hearing, “Protecting Consumer Privacy in the Era of Big Data,” featured panelists from both consumer and business advocacy organizations, including Color of Change, Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Center for Democracy & Technology and Business Roundtable. The panelists, as well as many of the representatives, emphasized the need for federal privacy legislation. IAB’s Dave Grimaldi and AEI’s Dr. Roslyn Layton noted the need to ensure that such legislation does not stifle innovation or harm small businesses, drawing particular attention to the fact that more than one thousand U.S. news sites are not available in Europe because of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Meanwhile, in the Senate, the Commerce Committee’s hearing on “Policy Principles for a Federal Data Privacy Framework in the United States” featured speakers mainly from industry groups. All witnesses supported the creation of a federal privacy framework, with most panelists agreeing that the law should preempt state laws. Some panelists and Senators, including Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA), noted that the federal privacy protections should be comprehensive and meaningful. Watch the full recordings of the House hearing here and the Senate hearing here.
Members of the News/Media Alliance staff have contributed to this post.
