Capitol Hill
House members of both parties support privacy legislation, Neil Fried, the Commerce Committee’s minority counsel, said at a Broadband Breakfast event Tuesday. But Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., of the Communications Subcommittee has yet to share a discussion draft of his…
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bill. Republicans “would welcome the opportunity to work with him,” but “it’s hard to do until we actually have a draft legislation in front of us,” Fried said. The Senate has tried to pass privacy legislation but failed, noted Danny Sepulveda, an aide to Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., of the Senate Communications Subcommittee. “The difficulty of privacy legislation is that it cuts across so much jurisdiction,” he said. “There really is no way to write a privacy bill that’s just for websites, because you're talking about the delivery” of several kinds of services, Sepulveda said. But privacy rules are important, and congressional committees will have to study the matter, he said. “People need to feel like the Internet is a safe place for them to go.” It’s in industry’s best interest to improve privacy controls, said David Quinalty, an aide to Ranking Member John Ensign, R-Nev., of the Senate Communications Subcommittee. Congress “can help foster” industry discussions about best practices, but it shouldn’t write laws that could stifle innovation, he said.