Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On February 14, 2011, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced the creation of a subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law.  The subcommittee will be chaired by Senator Al Franken (D-MN), and its jurisdiction will include oversight of laws and policies that govern the commercial collection, use and dissemination of personal information.  Senator Franken said, “The boom of new technologies…has also put an unprecedented amount of personal information into the hands of large companies that are unknown and unaccountable to the American public.”  Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) will be the ranking minority member of the subcommittee.  The subcommittee will increase focus on privacy issues, but may encounter jurisdictional conflicts with both the financial services and commerce committees when writing legislation.