House Internet privacy, data breach bills could merge

Consumer privacy bills championed by two House Energy and Commerce subcommittee chairmen that are now progressing on parallel tracks could merge to become a sweeping measure with implications for information brokers, broadband service providers, Internet companies and other technology stakeholders.

House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Energy and Commerce Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush, D-Ill., are planning a joint hearing this summer to discuss how their efforts intersect. Boucher, who will soon introduce a bill to give Web users greater confidence in how information collected online is stored and used, held a hearing on the topic last month. Energy and Commerce ranking member Joe Barton, Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee ranking member Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., and key Democrats will be original cosponsors, Boucher said today.

Boucher's hearing, focusing on pipeline providers, such as AT&T, Comcast and Verizon, examined whether the government should regulate a filtering technology employed by high-speed Internet firms for security. Privacy watchdogs warn that the technology could also be used to target advertising by building detailed customer profiles without their consent.

Internet titans such as Google and Yahoo are also interested in testifying at the joint hearing, Boucher said today after speaking at a Computer and Communications Industry Association conference.

Meanwhile, Rush heard testimony Tuesday on a bill he introduced last week that would pre-empt a patchwork of state data breach notification laws and require firms that collect personal information to implement strong security policies. Boucher said he will confer with Rush about how to address the controversies that have stalled the bill since Stearns first introduced it in 2005.

Boucher said he wants to move quickly but noted that the panel's calendar was full with climate change and healthcare. Lawmakers need time for further discussion about the potential implications of both bills, Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., said. Calls for a uniform policy that would apply to search engines and a multitude of other business models is "wrong headed" and should not advance, she said. Eshoo is waiting for AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson to respond to a letter asking him to clarify whether his company is tracking its Internet subscribers' activities to target advertising. She wrote the letter in response to what she considered contradictory testimony by AT&T's chief privacy officer.