Senate and State AGs Focus on Privacy
In advance of the NTIA’s first multistakeholder process on mobile privacy on July 12th, the Senate Commerce Committee scheduled a hearing for Thursday questioning whether self-regulation is sufficient. In announcing the hearing, Chairman Rockefeller (D-WV) reiterated his belief that federal legislation is necessary, as well as his intent to “closely examine how industry intends to fulfill its recent pledge to not collect consumers’ personal information when they utilize the self-regulatory ad icon or make “do-not-track” requests in their web browsers.”
And last week, Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler was elected president of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) during its Summer Meeting. In taking this position, Gansler indicated that his year-long presidential initiative will focus on “Privacy in the Digital Age.” Not much detail has been provided regarding this initiative, but Gansler has been a strong consumer advocate and critic of businesses on this issue.
White House Seeks New IP Strategy, House Holds Hearing on Patents
On the two-year anniversary of the Administration’s Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement, Federal IP Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel on Monday announced that the administration is developing a new strategy for IP enforcement, and seeking input. In the announcement Espinel indicated that recommendations may include, but need not be limited to: legislation, regulation, guidance, executive order, Presidential memoranda, or other executive action, including, but not limited to, changes to agency policies, practices or methods, she also said that the administration is looking for information on and recommendations for combating emerging or future threats to American innovation and economic competitiveness posed by violations of intellectual property rights.
Also on the IP front, the House Judiciary Sbcmte. on Competition and the Internet will hold a hearing this Wednesday on Protecting Patents, Trade Secrets and Market Access. Teresa Stanek Rea, the Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and PTO Deputy Director is the key witness.
Senate Consideration of Cyber in July Possible, New Data Security Bill Introduced
Since announcing his objective to bring cybersecurity legislation to the Senate floor in July, Majority Leader Harry Reid has not yet provided any additional details.
In the event that the issue does go to the Senate floor for an open amendment process, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) introduced data security legislation last week, the Data Security and Breach Notification Act of 2012 (S.3333), to establish a national breach notification standard for how companies inform individuals of a breach of security related to personal information. The bill is unlikely to be marked up or advanced on its own, but has been characterized as a marker for the amendment process.
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David LeDuc is Senior Director, Public Policy at SIIA. He focuses on e-commerce, privacy, cyber security, cloud computing, open standards, e-government and information policy. Follow the SIIA Public Policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPolicy