Witnesses Named for House Privacy Hearing

The House Consumer Protection Subcommittee has identified the witnesses who will be testifying at a Feb. 26 hearing on data privacy and security titled "Protecting Consumer Privacy in the Era of Big Data."

Those witnesses are Brandi Collins, senior campaign director, Media, Democracy & Economic Justice, Color of Change; Dave Grimaldi, executive VP for public policy, IAB; Roslyn Layton, PhD, visiting scholar, American Enterprise Institute; Nuala O’Connor, president, Center for Democracy & Technology; and Denise Zheng, VP, technology and innovation, Business Roundtable.

In a YouTube video on the hearing, Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said that while she knew her audience "loved their devices" she was also sure they wondered what the data companies "are beginning to sweep up" about them. She also talked about breaches and "problem after problem" involving Facebook.

She said the hearing was the beginning of a conversation that would end in legislation, adding that self-regulation "just isn't working."

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.