A joint hearing was held yesterday by two subcommittees of the House Energy & Commerce Committee the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection and the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet. The hearing was on the topic of, “Exploring the Offline and Online Collection and Use of Consumer Information.”

The testimony and statements by members of the subcommittees were largely targeting how advertisers obtain and use consumer information.  Representative Rick Boucher (D-VA), Chairman of the Communications, Technology and the Internet Subcommittee, has been interested in this topic for some time and is preparing legislation to provide a mechanism for consumers to control how some of the information on buying habits and other commercial data may be used.

Witnesses, including Chris Hoofnagle, cited instances of databases that collect health information (outside of HIPPA) and unlisted phone numbers. A specific Merlin list of phone information was cited.   Chairman Boucher intends to introduce legislation in the next several weeks, so we’ll have to review it at that time.  In the past, Boucher has suggested using only a light hand to regulate so as not to stifle business, and  I recall he suggested opt-out for some issues.  One suggestion made by Hoofnagle was to have a time limit on how long data can be maintained.

Here’s a link to the testimony.

http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1829:exploring-the-offline-and-online-collection-and-use-of-consumer-information&catid=129:subcommittee-on-commerce-trade-and-consumer-protection&Itemid=70