Press Release: In U.S. House Testimony, CDT CEO Alexandra Reeve Givens Emphasizes the Importance of Consumer Privacy and Urges Congress to Pass Comprehensive Privacy Legislation

(WASHINGTON) — Today, Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) President & CEO Alexandra Reeve Givens testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Energy & Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, & Commerce, at a hearing entitled “Promoting U.S. Innovation and Individual Liberty through a National Standard for Data Privacy.”

Givens’ testimony calls on Congress to pass strong federal privacy protections, and focuses on how current commercial data practices harm consumers, why the U.S. needs comprehensive federal privacy legislation, and what such legislation should include.

“Consumers in the U.S. are currently vulnerable to the social, psychological, and economic harms that result from abuses of their data,” said Givens. “From housing to credit to employment, people’s data can be used to make important decisions about them, often without their knowledge. By our count, this is the 31st hearing held in the U.S. Congress on consumer privacy in the past five years: hearings that have built a detailed record about the overwhelming need for a comprehensive federal privacy law. We commend the Committee’s focus on this issue in the new Congress, and urge it to act without delay.”