Democratic pollster Nancy Zdunkewicz on Friday said that it’s been difficult for lawmakers and government officials to solve problems involving privacy and big tech companies because they are not informed enough on the issues.
“There was so much criticism of the Facebook hearings where there are actually very complex legal issues that we could be asking Facebook,” Zdunkewicz, managing director of Democracy Corps, told Hill.TV’s Jamal Simmons on “What America’s Thinking.”
“Instead it’s sort of turned into a PR event because it’s such a hard thing for our legislators to get their minds around,” she continued.
“Hopefully, the debate has now shifted from a place where people are now talking about security for companies because of all of these privacy concerns, but it’s now become something where people are concerned about their own privacy and their own data,” she said.
The tech community has been grappling with the issue of privacy following a series of hacks, data breaches and Russian election interference in 2016.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai testified Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee, but Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) garnered attention during the event when he asked the tech leader why his granddaughter sees news about King when she is playing a game on an iPhone.
Pichai responded to the question by clarifying that Google does not make the iPhone, to which King then said the phone might have been an Android instead. Pichai then told the congressman he could follow up with him once he better understood the specifics.
— Julia Manchester
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