Wicker Keeps Privacy Talks Within Group, Despite Graham, Crapo Jockeying

There’s “no point in keeping” Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, in the loop right now, Wicker told us. “We need to see” where Commerce’s privacy group stands, he said. “When we get to a consensus among all six of us, we’ll run [a bill or draft] out there.”

Meanwhile, a potential division is developing at the FTC, where commissioners recently offered conflicting views about whether to name executives in privacy complaints (see 1905080067). Chairman Joe Simons last week said executive liability is an option, but he cautioned against regularly naming executives because it could result in fewer resources and settlements. Commissioner Rohit Chopra said the agency should subject major corporate privacy offenders to the same standards it uses to hold small-time scammers accountable.

A former commissioner told us small-time executives are named to ensure one-man and one-woman shops don’t simply shutter the company and open a new corporation immediately after. Large, publicly traded companies don’t have the same flexibility, the commissioner said. Offices for each of the current commissioners didn’t comment. The FTC didn't comment Monday.

The FTC has been able to avoid “polarization in ways that the FCC hasn’t,” Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, told us. “I would hope that they continue to maintain an attitude and tradition of non-partisanship and bipartisanship. There’s no reason [the Facebook decision] should cut along party lines.”

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is siding with some Democrats in urging the FTC to name Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in its forthcoming privacy complaint (see 1905060056). “If he personally knew or was personally involved, then they need to name him,” he told us. “We’ve been down this road before, partly because the FTC didn’t get serious, didn’t get tough, in 2011.” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told us the “facts and findings” will determine whether Zuckerberg should be held accountable. Wicker declined comment on that aspect.

Various members offered details about last week’s meetings with Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg (see 1905070066). One of several lawmakers to sit down with Sandberg, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told us he expects a hearing with Facebook “soon,” citing his concerns about election security. “We’re going to do a couple hearings.” He called the discussion with Sandberg and her company a “work in progress.”

Wicker said he spoke with Sandberg at the “10,000-foot level” about a number of issues, some of which “will come before the committee” like privacy and net neutrality. The privacy group’s next step is getting together again to see where things stand and understanding the scope of where the group is headed, he said. Senate Intelligence Committee ranking member Mark Warner, D-Va., said he discussed with Sandberg the platform’s progress on political ads and aired concerns about the company’s “privacy pivot” and how that might “exacerbate the problem” (see 1903060059).

Kennedy took issue with overly complex user agreements from platforms like Facebook. “Go look at the user agreements," he told reporters. “I mean, you could hide a dead body there and nobody would ever find it.” He said it’s an issue of disclosure: “I give up all of my personal information in return for getting to see what some of my high school buddies had for dinner Saturday night. That’s not a fair trade.”