Sep 6, 2018

Chamber of Commerce stakes a claim in privacy debate

David McCabe

The rise of comapnies like Google and Facebook has raised the profile of privacy issues. Photo: Vincent Isore/IP3/Getty Images

A top business lobby released a set of guidelines that it said could inform the development of new federal privacy rules.

Why it matters: The proposal from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce mark its full entry into the debate over privacy and reflect ideas that are palatable to the business community.

The details:

  • The group thinks federal regulations should supersede state laws, a move that’s become more appealing to industry thanks to California's data privacy bill going into effect in 2020.
  • Their proposal calls for rules to be applied across industries, to tech companies like Google and Facebook, plus competitors including telecom giants.
  • It also calls for Congress to "encourage collaboration as opposed to an adversarial enforcement system.” Companies dislike that the California law lets individuals sue companies over certain privacy violations.

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