The following statement can be attributed to Paul Lekas, Senior Vice President, Global Policy, Software & Information Industry Association.
SIIA applauds the House Energy & Commerce Committee for holding a subcommittee hearing on the economic dangers of American competition with China. The hearing incorporates a number of important issues, including protections for access to American’s sensitive personal information and that a federal privacy law should ensure that companies disclose whether their personal information is “sent to, transferred, or otherwise made available to China, as well as other foreign countries including Russia, North Korea, and Iran.”
SIIA has long advocated for the passage of a federal privacy law, which is a high priority for the information industry. We agree with the Committee that the US should enact federal privacy and data security standards to ensure “regulatory certainty” and a uniform set of rules for all companies, regardless of their market size or scope. A national privacy standard will bring positive returns for the state of the economy, strengthen national security, and encourage continued growth in the innovation ecosystem.
As noted in the briefing memo, Chinese companies enjoy a nationalized privacy and data security standard, which, coupled with U.S. inaction on data privacy and security, would provide a competitive edge.
SIIA also applauds the Energy & Commerce Committee for requesting Tik Tok’s CEO to testify in March about the company’s data privacy and security practices.
