Press Briefing: Senators, Coalition Call for Sweeping National Digital Privacy Legislation

For Immediate Release: Feb. 26, 2019 Contact: Mike Stankiewicz, mstankiewicz@citizen.org (link sends e-mail), (202) 588-7779

Jeff Chester jeff@democraticmedia.org (link sends e-mail) (202) 494-7100

MEDIA ADVISORY

Press Briefing: Senators, Coalition Call for Sweeping National Digital Privacy Legislation

Experts to Demand Federal Action to Combat Growing digital-consumer and Civil Rights Threats

WHAT: Staff briefing, open to the press and sponsored by U.S. Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) Tom Udall (D-N.M.), at which consumer protection and civil rights advocates will explain the urgent need for sweeping federal digital privacy legislation with a new approach. It includes baseline legislation that doesn’t pre-empt state privacy laws, the creation of a new federal data protection agency and safeguards against data practices that lead to unjust, unfair, manipulative or discriminatory, outcomes.

The briefing comes as Americans increasingly demand protection of their digital privacy in light of unethical privacy sharing and harvesting by tech giants. Without any constraints, Big Tech companies and their partners are collecting sensitive information on American citizens, ranging from financial and health information to data that tracks our Internet activity across all our devices, our location throughout the day and much more. Both the federal government and the states must be empowered to protect the public from this ever-growing online threat to their privacy, welfare and civil rights.

Members of the Privacy and Digital Rights for All coalition, which has announced a Framework for Comprehensive Privacy Protection And Digital Rights (link is external) in the U.S. also will speak about the need for enduring privacy innovation and limiting government access to personal data.

WHEN: 2 p.m. EST, Mon., March 4

WHO:

Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director, U.S. PIRG

Jeffrey Chester, executive director, Center for Digital Democracy

Brandi Collins-Dexter, senior campaign director, Color of Change

Josh Golin, executive director, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood

Burcu Kilic, research director, Public Citizen’s Access to Medicines program

Christine Bannan, administrative law and policy fellow, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)

WHERE:

Hart Senate Office Building Room 216

120 Constitution Ave NE

Washington, DC 20002

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