Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On July 27, 2010, Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) announced his intention to introduce an online privacy bill to regulate the collection and use of consumer data.  “Our counterparts in the House have introduced legislation and I intend to work with Senator Pryor and others to do the same on this side with the goal of passing legislation early in the next Congress,” Kerry said in a prepared statement.  Senator Kerry is the Chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet.  He indicated that his bill would go beyond the regulation of targeted advertising.  “Protecting the privacy of consumers online involves much more than the targeted advertising to which they are subjected,” Senator Kerry said. “Such advertising is just one result of the information that is routinely collected about us online.”

As we reported last week, Representative Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) introduced a bill regarding online data collection practices, which itself followed a similar bill proposed in May by Congressmen Boucher (D-VA) and Stearns (R-FL).  Also on Tuesday, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz testified before the U.S. Senate about FTC efforts to protect consumer privacy.