Lawmakers are ready to push for new privacy rules. They’re serious this time, several senators said during a recent hearing.
While federal data privacy legislation failed to pass in the past three sessions of Congress, several senators and members of the Federal Trade Commission are pushing lawmakers to move forward. Sens. Roger Wicker, Jerry Moran, and Marsha Blackburn all called for Congress to pass a new federal data privacy law when speaking at an April 20 hearing on strengthening the Federal Trade Commission. Other senators asked FTC members what tools they needed to protect privacy better.
If Congress doesn’t act, the FTC should launch a rule-making proceeding to create new federal data privacy regulations, Commissioner Christine Wilson told members of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.
“Inaction is not an option,” she told lawmakers.
Several senators, both Democrats and Republicans, raised concerns about the power of large tech companies during the hearing, and “repeated privacy violations and data misuse” by these companies needs to be addressed, Wicker said.
Giant tech companies have too much power, added Sen. Ted Cruz.
“Big Tech today represents the greatest accumulation of power, market power and monopoly power, over information that the world has ever seen,” he said. “The players in Big Tech are getting more and more brazen. They behave as if they are completely unaccountable, and at times, they behave more like national states than private companies.”
Blackburn, meanwhile, said she is working with others on a “virtual youth protection agenda” that includes privacy, data security, and antitrust issues related to Big Tech.
Still, many privacy advocates say they doubt Congress will pass a federal data privacy law. Even with an anti-tech mood in Congress, it does appear that Congress has the votes to pass a significant privacy bill, some said. Several privacy bills have been introduced in Congress this year, but so far have gone nowhere.
“Congress is too divided and has too many other issues to focus on,” said Stan Sater, a business and technology attorney at Founders Legal. “Plus, we have yet to see how industry lobbyists go against Congress if they so choose.”
Lawmakers still have several issues to address, such as whether a national privacy law should preempt privacy laws passed in several states, whether it should allow individuals to sue companies for privacy violations, and how it would interact with industry-specific privacy regulations such as HIPAA, he told the Washington Examiner.
With state preemption and private right of action debates still not resolved in Congress, there’s not enough bipartisan support for a federal privacy law, added Lily Li, founder and president of Metaverse Law, a privacy-focused law firm.
“Republicans do not want to see a private right of action for violations, as it would increase litigation dramatically, while Democrats, especially from California, are making the passage of a federal privacy bill contingent on a private right of action,” she told the Washington Examiner.
Still, recent debates over TikTok’s use of children’s data and data breaches at Facebook and other companies may push more lawmakers toward supporting a federal privacy law, she added.
While passage of a bill this year isn’t likely, there’s a growing tech backlash in Congress, noted Vlad Davidiuk, a government relations consultant from Texas.
“The current mood against Big Tech, mostly on the Republican side, but definitely present on the Left as well, could signal that a move toward blunting the power of privacy violations is gaining strength,” he told the Washington Examiner. “The possible impact to the tech industry would be extensive given that the reliance on personal data is widening and deepening.”
Davidiuk, who has worked with Texas Republicans, said federal privacy rules are needed and that they should require data minimization, data use transparency, and affirmative consent to share some personal data. “A national privacy bill is needed to restrain the unmitigated encroachment on the privacy of individuals, as well as the gradual cultural shift toward normalized intrusiveness,” he said.
