Senate Commerce Committee lawmakers are eyeing the first week of May for a privacy hearing, lobbyists told us. This would be the third privacy-related hearing for members (see 1902270048 and 1903260068). One lobbyist said to expect the potential hearing to feature consumer groups, as the first two hearings were mostly industry-driven. The committee didn’t comment Friday.
Karl Herchenroeder
Karl Herchenroeder, Associate Editor, is a technology policy journalist for publications including Communications Daily. Born in Rockville, Maryland, he joined the Warren Communications News staff in 2018. He began his journalism career in 2012 at the Aspen Times in Aspen, Colorado, where he covered city government. After that, he covered the nuclear industry for ExchangeMonitor in Washington. You can follow Herchenroeder on Twitter: @karlherk
There’s enough evidence for U.S. antitrust enforcers to investigate whether Facebook is undermining competition by leveraging its data against rivals, antitrust experts said. Bringing an actual case will be much more complicated, they added. One expert argued it’s unlikely the FTC or DOJ bring a case, given the ongoing Cambridge Analytica probe, other enforcement priorities and that a company is suing Facebook on anticompetitive grounds.
T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T dodged Sen. Ron Wyden’s request for specifics on customer location data incidents in April 5 letters to the Oregon Democrat obtained by us Thursday. Instead, companies cited the life-saving benefits of sharing data with police and specific examples of customer rescues in emergencies. Verizon and T-Mobile also described generally how companies report location data breaches to the FBI and Secret Service through the FCC.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., shrugged off EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager’s suggestion that Warren’s proposal to break up big tech is “far-reaching” (see 1903180058). “It would give competition a better chance to flourish, and that’s what competition law should be all about,” Warren told us.
Only two Democrats took the opportunity to question Facebook and Twitter at a recent hearing on Silicon Valley’s alleged anti-conservative political bias (see 1904100072). Senate Constitution Subcommittee ranking member Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, told us her colleagues weren’t necessarily sending a message they rejected the premise by not attending, though she considers the issue a “sham.”
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., questioned whether a new privacy law should include “strong guardrails” to limit FTC rulemaking authority. Such limits might preserve certainty for consumers, Moran wrote small-business representatives in questions for the record related to a recent Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee hearing (see 1903260068). Consumers would benefit from Congress “providing clear and measureable requirements in statutory text” while also including FTC rulemaking authority “to account for evolving technological developments,” he wrote. Is there value in including guardrails around rulemaking authority “to preserve the certainty to the consumers that we aim to protect?” Moran asked witnesses. Moran also asked for “resource-based recommendations … to ensure that the FTC has the appropriations it needs to execute its current enforcement mission.” As a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee member, Moran said he wants to understand resource needs better before “providing additional authorities.” Moran also asked about defining entities that small businesses share data with. Small businesses share information with third parties that provide “essential business services, like credit card processing,” he said, asking if there should be a distinction between service providers and other third parties.
It’s possible for the FTC to conduct multiple Section 6(b) studies at once, a spokesperson said Friday, noting it’s been done in the past.
The main message from senators working on privacy legislation is that “we need to do something,” European Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova told the Brookings Institution. She told reporters afterward she met with Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.; Mike Crapo, R-Idaho; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. Jourova was also scheduled to meet with FTC Chairman Joe Simons Thursday.
Senate Constitution Subcommittee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, expects a follow-up hearing to focus exclusively on Google, he said Wednesday during a hearing before which he rejected the company’s witness. Google didn’t provide a witness with seniority comparable to representatives sent by Facebook and Twitter, Cruz said. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., rejected a Google witness for the same reason in 2018 (see 1809050057).
Additional hearings are needed to examine questions about Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and other tech issues, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., told us. Members of both parties blamed each other for not properly addressing hate- and race-related activity, at a hearing earlier Tuesday.