Dan Kahn of Covington & Burling has a concise recap of a Senate hearing today on privacy:
Today, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing to seek the views of the Federal Trade Commission and the Administration on privacy issues. Discussion at the hearing, entitled “The Need for Privacy Protections: Perspectives from the Administration and the Federal Trade Commission,” focused in significant part on the privacy reports recently released by the FTC and the Administration.
Read more about the hearing on InsidePrivacy. Of concern, the new FTC chair does not seem to be in step with the privacy community. As Kahn notes:
Maureen K. Ohlhausen, who was not with the FTC at the time of the release of its privacy report, commended the FTC’s enforcement record. She also praised the FTC report’s “privacy by design” principle and stated her support for data security legislation. She expressed concern, however, that the report went too far in moving away from a tangible harm-based approach. She also stated that if consumers are presented with a clear choice prior to information collection, it can be assumed that they will exercise that choice in an informed way.
“Assumed?” Obviously, she never saw “The Odd Couple” and what became one of classic courtroom scenes of all time: