Commercial Data Usage Legislation
Congressional Committee prepares legislation on commercial data
usage
Colleagues,
A joint hearing was held yesterday by two subcommittees of the
House Energy & Commerce Committee the Subcommittee on Commerce,
Trade, and Consumer Protection and the Subcommittee on
Communications, Technology, and the Internet. The hearing was on
the topic of, "Exploring the Offline and Online Collection and
Use of Consumer Information."
Although the focus of the issue is advertising, there may be
impacts on databases that are of use to private investigators.
The testimony and statements by members of the subcommittees
were largely targeting how advertisers obtain and use consumer
information. Representative Rick Boucher (D-VA), Chairman of the
Communications, Technology and the Internet Subcommittee, has
been interested in this topic for some time and is preparing
legislation to provide a mechanism for consumers to control how
some of the information on buying habits and other commercial
data may be used.
Witnesses, including Chris Hoofnagle, cited instances of
databases that collect health information (outside of HIPPA) and
unlisted phone numbers. A specific Merlin list of phone
information was cited. Chairman Boucher intends to introduce
legislation in the next several weeks, so we’ll have to review
it at that time. In the past, Boucher has suggested using only a
light hand to regulate so as not to stifle business, and I
recall he suggested opt-out for some issues. One suggestion made
by Hoofnagle was to have a time limit on how long data can be
maintained.
Here’s a link to the testimony.
http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1829:exploring-the-offline-and-online-collection-and-use-of-consumer-information&catid=129:subcommittee-on-commerce-trade-and-consumer-protection&Itemid=70
Jimmie Mesis
NCISS Legislative Chairman
jim@nciss.org
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