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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Mike Wendy
May 4, 2010
(202) 969-2957
   
PFF Statement on House Privacy Bill Discussion Draft
Szoka & Thierer Fear "Privacy Industrial Policy" Will Devastate Digital Economy

WASHINGTON D.C. — The House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, today released its long-awaited online privacy bill discussion draft, requiring that users opt-in to certain types of online data collection. The following statement may be attributed to Berin Szoka, Senior Fellow at The Progress & Freedom Foundation and Director of PFF's Center for Internet Freedom, and Adam Thierer, PFF President:

By mandating a hodge-podge of restrictive regulatory defaults, policymakers could unintentionally devastate the "free" Internet as we know it. Because the Digital Economy is fueled by advertising and data collection, a "privacy industrial policy" for the Internet would diminish consumer choice in ad-supported content and services, raise prices, quash digital innovation, and hurt online speech platforms enjoyed by Internet users worldwide.
Before imposing prophylactic regulation, policymakers should first identify specific consumer harm that requires government intervention. They should next ask whether there are less restrictive alternatives to regulation, such as enhancing enforcement of existing laws, bolstering limitations on government access to online data, education efforts about online privacy, and promoting the development and uptake of technological empowerment solutions that allow users to manage their own privacy preferences.
This layered approach recognizes that privacy varies across users and depending on context, and that there's no escaping the trade-off between locking down information and the many benefits for consumers associated with the free flow of information. Simply put, there is no free lunch when it comes to online media and services. While the discussion draft deserves proper consideration, we feel its regulatory requirements may do more harm than help the growth of the Internet and the secure Internet services demanded by Americans.

Thierer is available for comment. Please contact Mike Wendy at mwendy@pff.org.

PFF filed comments on the Federal Trade Commission's Exploring Privacy Roundtable, Privacy Trade-Offs: How Further Regulation Could Diminish Consumer Choice, Raise Prices, Quash Digital Innovation & Curtail Free Speech, and has published dozens of other studies on the perils of heavy-handed privacy regulation, which can be found on the PFF website.

The Progress & Freedom Foundation is a market-oriented think tank that studies the digital revolution and its implications for public policy. PFF is a 501(c)(3) research & educational organization.

 

 

The Progress & Freedom Foundation