Business and advertising groups are calling for “significant changes” to a landmark data privacy bill that is due to be revised on Thursday.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Rep. Frank Pallone (R-N.J.) said last week: Discussion Draft The bill would include a number of provisions, including allowing individuals to opt out of targeted advertising, providing the power to bring civil lawsuits when their privacy rights are violated, and replacing a patchwork system of state-level data privacy laws.
McMorris Rodgers Explained When the subcommittee considered the bill last month, it characterized it as a “reset opportunity.”
“This legislation gives people control over their personal information online, which is something the American people overwhelmingly want. They are tired of their information being exploited for profit,” McMorris Rodgers said.
But the bill as it stands would “eviscerate the modern advertising industry” and “mandate an extremely anti-consumer, anti-advertising and anti-data privacy regime,” Association of National Advertisers CEO Bob Liodice and the 4A’s CEO Marla Kaplowitz wrote in a Monday letter to congressional leaders, McMorris Rodgers, Pallone and committee staff. First reported by Politico.
“APRA’s current draft also fails the constitutionality test because the proposed prohibitions and unreasonable restrictions violate the First Amendment protections for truthful advertising and speech that businesses have a right to say and consumers are entitled to receive,” the executives argued.
Privacy for America, a group of companies and industry groups including ANA and the 4As, I sent a letter On Monday, committee leaders signaled their “strong opposition” to the bill.
Privacy for America argues that by curbing targeted advertising, APRA would “severely impede” individual engagement, make it harder for mission-driven organizations like churches and nonprofits to find donors and volunteers, and increase the costs of market research.
The group also argues that the bill would make it harder for law enforcement to track down scammers and would “severely impact and harm consumers” by banning advertising to minors.
“For example, the military, universities, trade schools, and other organizations would not be able to find these individuals,” Privacy for America wrote.
Dozens of state business associations also wrote to McMorris Rodgers and Pallone on Monday, calling for “substantial changes” to the data privacy bill, arguing APRA’s “robust civil action powers” would leave small businesses subject to frivolous class action lawsuits.
“This bill would hold Main Street accountable for privacy violations by big tech companies on the theory that Main Street should police the privacy practices of tech companies, but our members lack the capacity to do so,” the letter said.
But supporters of a bipartisan, bicameral APRA argue it provides important consumer data protections and child safety provisions needed to rein in big tech companies.
“The unrestrained collection and exploitation of personal data by major tech platforms like Google and Meta is at the root of nearly every challenge we face as conservatives,” Kara Frederick, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Technology Policy Center, said in a statement last Friday.
“This widespread surveillance, enabled by Big Tech’s expansive data-collection capabilities, creates many threats that undermine our fundamental rights and values. It’s time to put Big Tech on notice and let them know that the easy life they built on the backs of Americans and our children is over.”
