WASHINGTON -- Congressman Marsha Blackburn (TN-7) continues her series of roundtables on online privacy issues this Wednesday, September 28th, at Santa Clara University Law School.

First, she will deliver a speech and host a question and answer session with members of the audience during a public breakfast. The event is being hosted by the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee and the High Tech Law Institute at the Santa Clara University Law School, and will be moderated by CNET.com reporter, Declan McCullagh.

Following the breakfast event, Congressman Blackburn will host a private interactive roundtable discussion with various leaders and experts to talk about online privacy issues in anticipation of the final reports to be released this fall by the Department of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission. The roundtable will be similar to ones she held earlier this year in New York City and Washington, D.C. 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 Communications and Technology 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. 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.

Congressman Marsha Blackburn said of the upcoming roundtable, “The contours of the online privacy debate will determine the prosperity of tomorrow’s free markets, the viability of future innovation, and the survival of free speech. Balancing between the individual’s desire to control their digital information and the economy’s drive toward greater efficiency is possible, but not if industry and Washington’s only solution is to ignore the problem and build firewalls between the individual and the marketplace. An overly expansive privacy regime, or a ‘virtual toll’ for the Internet, would block consumers’ and competitors’ access to the e-commerce superhighway. We are seeking leadership and input from the innovators themselves, and that’s why I’ll be in Silicon Valley leading a conversation on how to responsibly protect the ‘Virtual You.’”

Confirmed participants include representatives from several Silicon Valley start-up technology companies.

WHAT: Blackburn Privacy Roundtable

WHEN: Wednesday, September 28, 2011, 8:45 am PDT (Registration & Breakfast); 9:15 am PDT (Official Program Starts)

WHERE: Williman Romm (Inside the Benson Center) at the Santa Clara University, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95053

ONLINE REGISTRATION: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=223109

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