White House Open to Online Privacy Legislation, Guided By NTIA Principles
The White House will work with Congress to develop online privacy legislation guided by a set of principles expected from the Commerce Department in September, officials and industry representatives told us. White House Deputy Press Secretary Lindsay Walters emailed that the Trump administration aims to craft a consumer privacy protection policy that's the “appropriate balance between privacy and prosperity” through the National Economic Council. The administration looks forward to working transparently with stakeholders and Congress “on a legislative solution consistent with our overarching policy,” she said.
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Computer & Communications Industry Association Senior Policy Counsel Bijan Madhani said the NTIA is meeting privately with tech (CCIA included), telecom, retail and privacy groups individually to inform the legislative discussion. He expects privacy principles to be released by the end of September. “We are comfortable with the idea that [a federal privacy law] might be coming,” said Madhani, but it’s possible for legislation to promote both consumer privacy and industry innovation. NTIA provides a vehicle for industry to insert its viewpoint into the legislative discussion and be “proactive and productive … rather than just saying no to everything,” he said. An NTIA spokesperson emailed that the stakeholder meetings are aimed at crafting privacy principles subject to public comment, and the organization will update the public accordingly.
Senate Commerce Committee lawmakers welcomed formal guidance from the White House. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told us disclosure should be the most important principle, saying Americans are aware of the privacy tradeoffs with free services from online platforms: “That public disclosure alone, I think, is going to be very helpful, and I think you’re seeing the market react. It will be interesting to see whether the government has to do anything at all.” Johnson previously said the U.S. “probably” needs federal pre-emption to govern internet privacy (see 1807120043).
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., told us the White House should look to bipartisan legislation that she and Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., introduced and its provisions when formulating principles. She specifically cited the data breach notification requirement included in her bill, which requires platforms to notify users of a breach within 72 hours.
Kennedy repeated calls to social media companies to formulate ideas: “I’ve been waiting for them to do that. If they don’t, we’ll impose our own solutions, hopefully in conjunction with the White House, but clearly we’ve got a problem.” Asked whether formal guidance from the administration will be beneficial, Kennedy said, “I can use all the guidance I can get.”
Asked whether the White House has participated enough in the privacy debate, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told us, “I don’t know what their views are. Normally a president would have views and opinions on this topic, based on thoughtful and insightful consideration.” Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said the administration should do everything it “can possibly do to make sure data is kept private, and that’s a fact. We’ve got to protect people’s personal data.” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. said formal guidance from the administration will be “helpful.”
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Vice President Daniel Castro said the administration is willing to “listen to businesses on this issue.” The White House pushed “for less regulation across the entire economy,” he said. “It would be hard for us to find them pushing for more regulation without some kind of strong demand from industry for it.” Online advertising business models don’t want anything that undercuts their business model, but others in the tech space whose business models don’t rely so much on consumer data collection might back legislation as a competitive advantage, he said. Hardware companies like Apple and Microsoft and security companies don’t rely on collection of user data like Facebook, for example. There's also an optical element to the conversation, he said, comparing the privacy discussion to the conversation that led to passage of Sen. Rob Portman’s, R-Ohio, anti-sex trafficking law (see 1805020053). “I haven’t met a single person from the tech community who looked at the law, understood it and said it was good for the community or even good for consumers. It wasn’t good for sex-trafficking victims, but the law still passed,” he said.
Industry needs to figure out how it’s going to represent its interests publicly because if it doesn’t, the conversation will be off balance, Castro said. Like Madhani, Castro said NTIA can provide that vehicle. “It allows us to be frank without the risk of immediate legislation,” said Madhani.