GOP lawmaker: House leaders only ‘pay lip service’ to privacy

Republican House leaders are too focused on the business community’s interests when it comes to privacy, said Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), co-chairman of the Congressional Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus.

“Legislatively this is an issue that the Republican leaders pay lip service to, but they listen more to the business community,” Barton said Tuesday during a congressional briefing on the White House’s recently released online consumer privacy legislative proposal.

{mosads}The offering, known as the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights Act, would require companies to provide clear notice of how they use data, ensure data isn’t reused in other contexts and give consumers a method to have their data deleted.

The idea is to curb nefarious practices, such as when companies make large profits selling customers’ data behind the scenes unbeknownst to the customers themselves.

Tech groups have called the measure too restrictive while privacy groups have called it toothless.

Barton called the offering a “good step,” but conceded that it “may be too broad.”

But it should be taken seriously, he said. Barton called out the GOP top brass for having no desire to even consider the proposal.

For House leaders, he said, “when push comes to shove, the concept of data mining, or collection of data to then use for some profitable enterprise, trumps the right to privacy.”

It’s a bipartisan issue that Barton believes could actually make it through both chambers.

Barton said his goal is to “just get them to be willing to hold some hearings,” he said, and “be willing to think about it.”