High-Tech Firms to Push Data-Privacy Law in New Congress
Monday, 11 December 2006
The Associated Press on Saturday reported that Microsoft Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., and other high-tech companies are preparing to push for data-privacy legislation in the 110th Congress, which will convene in January. The companies believe the current patchwork of state and federal laws to be outdated, inconsistent, and burdensome.
The AP said Microsoft lawyer Ira Rubinstein last week said that, "We think the time has come for a comprehensive privacy bill that would protect consumers' personal information while still allowing the flow of information needed for commerce online.”
Rubinstein pointed out that high-profile breaches of consumers' personal information have made consideration of privacy proposals more likely.
Microsoft, HP, and eBay Inc. earlier this year formed the Consumer Privacy Legislative Forum to lobby for privacy legislation. Google Inc., Intel Corp., Oracle Corp. and other companies later joined.
The forum supports legislation that would set standards for what notice must be given to consumers about personal information collected on them and how it will be used, Rubinstein said. The companies are aiming for a law that would override any existing state laws and standardize privacy rules across industries.
However, the AP reported that the group's efforts will likely face some opposition.
Marc Rosenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a consumer advocacy group, said the proposals, if adopted, would amount to an industry drafting its own regulations.
Meanwhile, Stuart Ingis, a partner at the law firm Venable LLP, said that a broad privacy measure is unnecessary. "Comprehensive privacy legislation already exists in this country," he said, citing existing laws and regulations governing financial and health-care privacy.