CREATION OF CONSUMER PRIVACY LEGISLATION FORUM ANNOUNCED AT HEARING

Washington, Jun 20, 2006 - "Our first privacy hearing, titled Privacy in the Commercial World, was held in 2001," said Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Chairman of the Commerce, Trade & Consumer Protection Subcommittee.  "Much has changed since then, the events of 9/11, massive technological advances, and the creation of new products and services among them.  However, much remains the same.  We continue to regulate privacy under a sector-specific, disjointed approach involving local, state, and federal requirements dealing with notice, consent, and security protections in the health, on-line, financial, and other contexts.  The principle driving my effort is to establish a uniform and consistent privacy regime for the American consumer and business."

During his testimony, Peter P. Swire announced the creation of the Consumer Privacy Legislation (CPL) Forum.  Swire stated that the purpose of the CPL Forum is to support "a national standard for privacy protection that will benefit consumers while allowing commerce to flourish."  The companies supporting the CPL Forum are Eastman Kodak Co., eBay Inc., Eli Lilly and Co., Google, Inc., Hewitt and Associates, Hewlett-Packard Co., Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp., Procter & Gamble Co., Sun Microsystems, Inc., and Symantec Corp.

Meg Whitman, President & CEO of eBay, discussed her company's privacy work, "eBay's purpose - pioneering new communities around the world built on commerce, sustained by trust, and inspired by opportunity - relies heavily upon our commitment to protect our users' privacy.  With this in mind, eBay supports the effort to enact federal privacy legislation establishing consistent national standards."   Scott Taylor, Chief Privacy Officer for Hewlett-Packard, provided similar testimony.  Taylor said, "Hewlett-Packard believes that Congress should take steps to consider a comprehensive federal approach to protecting consumer privacy."

"It is clear that there is strong support for comprehensive privacy legislation that offers consumers the knowledge and the ability to make informed decisions that involve their personal information, and that provides business a consistent framework of law and regulation that stimulates innovation and success," concluded Stearns.  "I appreciate this testimony and I look forward to getting input from consumer groups, business, government, and academia in crafting sound, proactive privacy legislation."