Tech Industry Encourages Senate Passage of Judicial Redress Act

Seventeen trade associations and organizations, including several representing the tech industry, sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Ia., and ranking member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Thursday asking the Senate leaders to support the passage of the Judicial Redress Act (S-1600), a Computer & Communications Industry Association news release said. The legislation was introduced last week by Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and would extend redress rights granted under the U.S. Privacy Act to citizens of designated nations, particularly European Union member states, the release said. The legislation also would allow citizens of designated nations the ability to request that inaccuracies in data held by the U.S. government be corrected, it said. “The last two years have seen a significant erosion of global public trust in both the U.S. government and the U.S. technology sector,” leading to adverse economic consequences, the letter said. “In a globally connected world, protecting certain individuals’ privacy under the Privacy Act should not be limited to people who are in the U.S.,” said Information Technology Industry Council Global Privacy Policy Vice President Yael Weinman in an ITI news release. Reps. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and John Conyers, D-Mich., introduced a House companion bill in March, HR-1428, which was endorsed by the Obama administration and federal law enforcement agencies, the release said.