House Holds Hearing on Internet Privacy:
Administration to Hold Conference

(March 27, 1998)  David Aaron, of the Department of Commerce, testified at a House subcommittee hearing on internet privacy on Thursday, March 26, that the Clinton administration plans to hold a privacy conference in May.

The House Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property conducted the oversight hearing on internet privacy at which Aaron and representatives of Internet businesses and interest groups concerned about privacy, testified.

Companies which conduct business on the Internet have long opposed government regulation of the Internet.  Industry instead has advocated self-policing.   However, recent developments, such as AOL's release of information about subscriber McVeigh, Lexis-Nexis's sale of social security numbers, and the practice of some websites of collecting information from children, has prompted some groups to call for new government regulation.

Marc Rotenberg, Director of Electronic Privacy Information Center, testified that:

"Several steps must be taken to set our privacy policy back on course. First, enforceable Fair Information Practices should be applied to the Internet. This is best done by legislation. The self-regulatory approach is not working. Second, techniques to protect privacy and anonymity should be encouraged and restrictions on encryption should be lifted. Finally, a privacy agency should be established to develop additional recommendations for privacy protection and to provide permanent leadership within the federal government on this important issue."  (See, text of prepared statement.)

Deirdre Mulligan, staff counsel at Center for Democracy and Technology, wants there to be,

"a privacy entity to provide expertise and institutional memory, a forum for research and exploration, and a source for guidance and policy recommendations on privacy issues. The existing crisis-driven approach to responding to privacy concerns has hindered the development of sound rational policy and failed to keep pace with changes in technology.  The U.S. needs an independent voice empowered with the scope, expertise, and authority to guide public policy.  (See, text of prepared statement.)

There are already many pending bills which would regulate internet activity in the name of privacy.  For example:

• HR 1367.  This bill would prohibit Federal agencies from making available through the Internet certain confidential records with respect to individuals, and to provide for remedies in cases in which such records are made available through the Internet.
• HR 98: Consumer Internet Privacy Protection Act of 1997.  This bill provides that an interactive computer service shall not disclose to a third party any personally identifiable information provided by a subscriber to such service without the subscriber's prior informed written consent.
• HR 2368: Data Privacy Act of 1997.  This bill provides for the establishment of a computer interactive services industry working group which would establish voluntary guidelines limiting the collection and use, for commercial marketing, of personal information obtained from individuals through any interactive computer service.  It would also prohibit: (1) the commercial marketing use of certain Government information regarding an individual that is obtained through the use of any interactive computer service without the individual's prior consent; (2) the display of any individual's social security number through the use of any interactive computer service; and (3) the commercial marketing use of any personal health and medical information obtained through an interactive computer service, without the person's consent.

Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC) stated at Thursday's hearing that "it's not likely Congress will do anything in a tangible way this session."  Coble chairs the Subcommittee which held the hearing, and which holds jurisdiction over bills on this subject.

David Aaron is Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade.  He heads up the International Trade Commission.  He is also active in promoting administration proposals for encryption restraints.

The Federal Trade Commission, which is conducting a study of web site privacy practices, is the likely recipient of any new regulatory powers in this arena.