September 22, 2006 - TOP HOUSE DEMOCRAT ON TELECOM AND INTERNET SUBCMTE. ADDRESSES HP PRIVACY DEBACLE
WASHINGTON, DC -- In anticipation of hearings in the House Energy and Commerce Committee at the end of September, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), the top Democrat on the House Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee released the following statement about the Hewlett Packard privacy debacle. Rep. Markey, also the co-chair of the Congressional Privacy Caucus, has sponsored and cosponsored a number of bills to protect personal privacy, including tightening and clarifying anti-pretexting laws. One such bill to ensure phone companies did a better job in protecting phone records and that clarified that use of pretexting to obtain phone records is illegal is H.R. 4943, the "Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act.” This legislation passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously and then was removed from the House Floor schedule at the last moment by GOP leaders, and has not received a floor vote yet. Mr. Markey has also sponsored legislation to prohibit the commercial sale of Social Security Numbers.
September 21, 2006 - HOUSE DEMOCRATS TO CALL FOR IMMEDIATE CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATIONS INTO REPORTED EFFORTS BY SR. INTERIOR DEPT. OFFICIALS TO ALLOW OIL & GAS COMPANIES TO CHEAT AMERICAN TAXPAYERS OUT OF ROYALTY PAYMENTS
Washington, DC -- A group of House Democrats today called for immediate congressional hearings and investigations into reported efforts by senior Interior Department officials to allow oil and gas companies to cheat American taxpayers out of royalty payments. Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA), Congressman George Miller (D-CA), Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), and other House Democrats sent letters today to House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-CA) and House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior Chairman Charles Taylor (R-NC), asking that oversight hearings be held on the matter before Congress adjourns for October.
September 21, 2006 - NEARLY 8 MONTHS AFTER SETTLEMENT OF MASSIVE CHOICEPOINT DATA BREACH, NO FUNDS HAVE BEEN DISPERSED TO THE VICTIMS OF IDENTITY THEFT
Washington, DC -- Today Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), the top Democrat on the House Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee and a senior member of the full Energy and Commerce Committee, released a letter to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras urging her to explain a press report that the FTC has not yet compensated identity theft victims over eight months after a settlement was reached with ChoicePoint following a massive data breach. The report by the Associated Press yesterday indicates that the FTC has not yet developed the procedures to distribute $5 million in settlement funds to almost 1,000 known ID theft victims after the massive ChoicePoint data breach. Rep. Markey, co-Chairman of the Congressional Privacy Caucus, has offered a number of measures to protect Americans’ privacy, including a bill to protect Social Security numbers and increase penalties for organizations that do not take steps to secure individuals’ health, financial and Internet privacy.
September 21, 2006 - MARKEY URGES FCC TO RE-THINK GRANTING OF HUNDREDS OF EXEMPTIONS TO CLOSED-CAPTIONING OBLIGATIONS
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), the ranking member of the House Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee, sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin to urge him to reconsider granting hundreds of exemptions to closed-captioning obligations.
