Congressman Marsha Blackburn (TN-7) will host an online privacy roundtable discussion in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, September 14th from 8:00 – 9:30 am EST in the Capitol Visitors Center Meeting Room North.
The roundtable discussion will cover online privacy issues in anticipation of the final reports to be released this fall by the Department of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission. Participants will consider questions and policy issues related to the value of data, where government should or shouldn’t be involved in regulating online privacy, and alternatives to government regulation and federal legislation in this area.
Congressman Blackburn, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and vice chair of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, pledged to conduct a national series of tech industry roundtables in a speech to the Telecommunications Industry Association earlier this year. Her first roundtable was held in late June at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s new online advertising community center in New York City. Congressman Blackburn also recently wrote an op-ed titled “The FTC’s Internet Kill Switch” that addresses why any proposed privacy regulation must consider the costs of diminished competition and innovation.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn said of the upcoming roundtable, “Congress and the American people must consider how to appropriately address consumers’ evolving privacy concerns using free-market principles. We can’t afford overly restrictive regulations that would stifle innovation, investment, and job growth in the technology industry. Proposals that would effectively require an ‘opt-in’ before users could gain access to the digital economy have huge real world costs on the advertising model that supports the creative economy online. At the same time, we can and must do better to protect users’ sensitive information online. This roundtable will explore the policy contours of the online privacy debate keeping those principles in mind.”
Confirmed participants include the following policy leaders:
- Howard Beales, George Washington University School of Business
- Daniel Castro, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
- Larry Downes, TechFreedom
- Harold Furchgott-Roth, Hudson Institute, Center for Economics of the Internet
- Jim Harper, Cato Institute
- Tom Lenard, Technology Policy Institute
- Randolph May, Free State Foundation
- Ryan Radia, Competitive Enterprise Institute
- Berin Szoka, TechFreedom
