EPIC organized a coalition letter to Senator Blackburn (R-TN) and Senator Feinstein (D-CA), urging them to work with consumer and privacy groups in the newly formed Senate Judiciary tech task force. Yesterday Blackburn held a closed-door session with representatives from tech companies, including Snap and Mozilla. The coalition letter said "We need you to pursue an open and inclusive process that ensures that meetings are held in public, that a record is established, and that the voices of consumers are heard." The groups also said "the United States needs comprehensive, baseline federal legislation" and "an independent data protection agency." The groups concluded, "We can no longer let industry groups and ineffective agencies decide how much privacy Americans may have."
In a statement to the Senate Judiciary committee, EPIC urged lawmakers to press the FTC and the Department of Justice on Enforcement of the Antitrust Laws. EPIC wrote that "companies that protect user privacy are being absorbed by companies that do not protect privacy." EPIC pointed to the Facebook-WhatsApp deal and the failure of the FTC to protect the personal data of WhatsApp users after the merger. EPIC previously testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about mergers in the online advertising industry after EPIC told the FTC that Google's acquisition of DoubleClick would diminish privacy and stifle innovation. EPIC earlier opposed Doubleclick's acquisition of Abacus, explaining that the deal would lead to increased profiling of American consumers. EPIC, Color of Change, the Open Markets Institute, and others have also urged the FTC to require Facebook to spin-off WhatsApp and Instagram.
EPIC has launched a campaign urging the creation of a Data Protection Agency in the United States. In a recent statement, EPIC President Marc Rotenberg said "A data protection agency is the cornerstone of effective privacy protection. Data protection agencies act as ombudsmen for the public. They encourage innovation and good business practices. They identify emerging privacy challenges and pursue solutions. They take enforcement action when necessary and they impose penalties that are meaningful." EPIC has repeatedly told Congress that the FTC is not an effective privacy agency. Earlier this year, EPIC joined other organizations in support of "A Framework for Privacy Protection in the United States," which said "The US needs a federal agency focused on privacy protection, compliance with data protection obligations, and emerging privacy challenges." Visit epic.org/dpa for more information.
