Senate Committee Holds Hearing on Broad Privacy Bills

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation held a hearing this morning on several pending privacy bills. Witnesses from the Federal Trade Commission, Federal Communications Commission and Department of Commerce testified in favor of data breach legislation and broader bills that would restrict the use of data.

Among the bills under discussion was S-1207, the "Data Security and Breach Notification Act." Private investigators could be included as "information brokers" under the bill. S-1207 includes a prohibition on certain uses of "pretexting." Similar pretexting bans exist in some bills before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

NCISS is opposed to these provisions and is working with other industry groups, including the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition to fight them in both the House and Senate.

Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) indicated that he expected data breach and data collection bills to eventually be merged into comprehensive privacy legislation that would include cybersecurity provisions to be considered by the full Senate.

The hearing was abbreviated today because of a series of unrelated votes on the floor. Full statements from all the witnesses may be found on the Committee's website at http://commerce.senate.gov


Keeping the profession informed,
 

Membership

Locate an NCISS Member

Login to members only page

Events

NCISS 37th Annual Conference
& W.A.D. - World Association of Detectives 87th Annual Conference

September 3 - 8, 2012
"Save the Date"

The Park Plaza in Boston
50 Park Plaza at Arlington Street
Boston, MA 02116
Phone (617) 426-2000

Room Rate is $149 to $179

Legislation