Momentum Growing for US Privacy Law: Blumenthal, Blackburn

The Senate will have hearings soon on a federal privacy bill, said Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., during a Politico webinar Thursday. “We will hold hearings on a number of aspects, not only the substance of what should be included, but also enforcement, how to enlist state authorities, especially the states where there are now laws.” Congress doesn’t want to preempt states like California, he said. Blumenthal seeks an FTC rulemaking. “It may be time-consuming, but it will provide additional leverage and impetus for what we will do in Congress,” he said. “We’re way behind the rest of the world.” Blumenthal said he will consult with other members of the Commerce Committee on hearing dates: “This area is really ripe for action.” Subcommittee ranking member Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., sees growing consensus. State officials are “perplexed” Congress didn’t move first, she said: “People are waiting for us.” Parents are “turning to us,” she said, “and saying there need to be some stronger rules of the road on online privacy. There need to be some punishments for misuse.” Discussions are further along among members than most people realize, she said. Blumenthal noted Facebook is planning Instagram for kids: “We’ve got to stop it. … It’s a disaster waiting to happen.” Legislation should require people opt in if they want to share data, Blumenthal said. “A strong national standard” should be “imposed across the board on all platforms,” he said. People should be able to transfer their data, he said. It won’t be easy to get anything through the Senate, he said: “The bandwidth here is sometimes limited and there are a lot of competing issues.” Lack of federal privacy rules hampered using data in a “sufficiently agile” way to respond to COVID-19, said Julie Brill, Microsoft chief privacy officer. No one knew “what the guardrails were,” she said. In the absence of a federal law, “states will move forward because policymakers want to address their constituents’ concerns,” she said. Brill hopes agreement can be reached on a federal law. There’s consensus “consumers are shouldering too much of the burden around privacy” and companies need to demonstrate they use data responsibly, she said: There’s understanding consumers need to correct their data and move it to another provider if they want.