On September 10, Business Roundtable sent a letter signed by 31 CEOs to leaders of Congress, calling for a comprehensive consumer data privacy law. The letter states:
Consumers should not and cannot be expected to understand rules that may change depending upon the state in which they reside, the state in which they are accessing the internet, and the state in which the company’s operation is providing those resources or services. Now is the time for Congress to act and ensure that consumers are not faced with confusion about their rights and protections based on a patchwork of inconsistent state laws.
Accompanying the letter, the Business Roundtable released a "Framework for Consumer Privacy Legislation." The Framework includes a set of principles regarding protections for consumers and requirements for responsible collection, use, and sharing of personal information by businesses. It endorses a national consumer privacy law that would pre-empt state and local government provisions regarding data collection, use, and sharing. And it provides for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to be the enforcer of the national consumer privacy law, with State Attorneys General being permitted to bring enforcement actions in federal court in certain instances. Also, the national consumer privacy law would not provide a private right of action. Congress ought to take seriously the principles contained in the Framework in establishing a national consumer privacy law.
Many of the principles and concepts touched on in the letter and Framework were addressed at the Free State Foundation's privacy policy seminar, held on June 26, 2019. The seminar was titled: "Privacy Regulation: Why, What, and When?" The seminar included a keynote address by FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips, a panel discussion, and a closing keynote by Senator Marsha Blackburn. The YouTube video of FSF's privacy policy seminar may be found here.
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