Other letters:

http://www.ccianet.org/letters/hollings_privacy.php3

http://www.uschamber.com/Press+Room/2002+Releases/May+2002/02-93.htm

Fwd:

CSPP's current CEO members are: Michael Dell, Dell (chairman of CSPP);
Craig Barrett of Intel; Carly Fiorina of HP; Chris Galvin of Motorola;
Lou Gerstner of IBM; Lars Nyberg of NCR; Joseph Tucci of EMC; and
Larry Weinbach of Unisys.


 
Computer Systems Policy Project

May 15, 2002

The Honorable Fritz Hollings
Chairman
United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science
and Transportation
Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Mr. Chairman:

The Computer Systems Policy Project (CSPP) has for some time supported
efforts to develop practicable, baseline national privacy legislation.
The CEOs of the CSPP companies have personally met with Senators on a
number of occasions over the past three years to communicate the
principles they believe constitute effective privacy legislation.
Those principles are attached.

We find it unfortunate that S. 2201, the Online Personal Privacy Act,
as introduced by Chairman Hollings, deviates considerably from our
long-espoused principles.  CSPP is opposed to S. 2201 as drafted and
recommends that the following changes be made:

Scope - Offline/Online - CSPP supports privacy laws being, to the
greatest extent practicable, equally applicable to both online and
offline commercial transactions.  Personal information should receive
consistent protection, regardless of where it is collected.  As
introduced and amended, S. 2201 purports to protect the personally
identifiable information (PII) provided by individuals to companies
with which they transact business.  However, the bill limits statutory
protection to data shared with businesses through the Internet or
online channels.  The bill should be amended to expand its application
to protect all PII shared in all commercial transactions where that
information is collected or processed by an automated means.

Preemption - We strongly support preemption of state law with respect
to privacy.  As written, S. 2201, could be interpreted as preempting
only "State statute, regulation, or rule" with regard to Internet
privacy.  The bill must be redrafted to more clearly define state law
to include the preemption of state judicial rulings.

Private Right of Action - We believe that the Federal Trade Commission
Act is adequate deterrence of and contains sufficient enforcement
provisions against unfair and deceptive practices, including failure
of a commercial entity to abide by its published privacy policy.  We
believe the proposed right of consumers to bring private action would
only result in unwarranted litigation for damages above and beyond the
penalties already imposed by federal law.  Access - While CSPP
supports individuals having reasonable means to review the PII
retained by companies, we concur with the earlier FTC findings that
the extensive implications of providing access warrants additional
study prior to enactment of a legislative requirement

Although we have limited our comments in this letter to those issues
raised by our legislative principles, CSPP members have many
additional concerns about how S. 2201 in its present form would impact
the Internet and e-commerce.  We will continue to work with the Senate
to craft balanced legislation that enables individuals to make
informed privacy choices while preserving the convenience and savings
of today's Internet.


Sincerely,

Ken Kay
Executive Director
Computer Systems Policy Project