Barton Says He Wants To Work On Privacy Bill
House Energy and Commerce ranking member Joe Barton, R-Texas, said Wednesday that he has told the panel's chairman that he can work with Democrats on privacy legislation but he doesn't believe a draft measure offered by Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., goes far enough.
In an interview, Barton, co-chairman of the Congressional Privacy Caucus, said he met Tuesday with Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and told him privacy is an issue on which he could work with the California Democrat. He added that Boucher and subcommittee ranking member Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., have "put together a good draft to get people's attention." Boucher gave stakeholders in the debate until last Friday to submit comments on the draft privacy measure.
Barton noted that business groups believe it goes too far and privacy groups say it doesn't go far enough. Barton said the Boucher draft must go further to protect consumer privacy, adding that he wants to give "as much control to individuals as possible."
While saying he would like to see privacy legislation enacted this year, he said Boucher, Waxman and senior Energy and Commerce member Edward Markey, D-Mass., need to reach consensus on privacy legislation. Markey is the other House co-chairman of the privacy caucus.
Asked about concerns he and Markey have raised about the privacy implications of Google's disclosure last month that it "mistakenly" collected personal data from unsecured Wi-Fi networks, Barton described the incident as "ridiculous." He added that it "just shows we need strict [privacy] protections" for consumers.
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