WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Insurance Subcommittee hearing today on consumer privacy and protection in the mobile marketplace.

Witness List:

Panel I 

Mr. David Vladeck, Director, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission 

Panel II 

Mr. Bret Taylor, Chief Technology Officer, Facebook 

Mr. Morgan Reed, Executive Director, Association for Competitive Technology

Ms. Catherine A. Novelli, Vice President, Worldwide Government Affairs, Apple Inc.

Mr. Alan Davidson, Director of Public Policy for the Americas, Google Inc.

Ms. Amy Guggenheim Shenkan, President and Chief Operating Officer, Common Sense Media

Key Quotations from Today’s Hearing:

“As the online world grows and evolves, the consumer privacy issues that we must address become more complex and the stakes get higher. As smartphones become more powerful, more personal information is being concentrated in one place. Consumers want to understand and have control of their personal information. Unfortunately, today this expectation is not being met. The companies here today are leaders in the industry. So today I ask them to lead. I ask them to work with application developers, both large and small, to create better privacy notices and controls that work in the mobile world. This effort should make strong privacy policies and practices for mobile apps the norm, not the exception. I believe consumers deserve a simple, easy-to-use process to stop companies from collecting personal information.”

Chairman John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV 

“Consumers continue to lose more control over their personal information, and smart phones are part of this trend as they become more versatile. Until there are basic parameters and best practices in place, I have a real concern this problem will only get worse. The insights of today’s witnesses are helpful in determining where we need to go from here.”

Senator Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Chairman, U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Insurance 

“The Federal Trade Commission is committed to protecting consumers, including children and teens, from unfair and deceptive acts in the burgeoning mobile marketplace. This dedication is reflected in the Commission’s recent law enforcement actions and ongoing investigations, policy initiatives, and investment of resources to augment its mobile technical expertise and investigative tools. Protecting the privacy and security of consumer information is a critical component of the Commission’s focus on mobile technologies and services. We will continue to bring law enforcement actions where appropriate and work with industry and consumer groups to develop workable solutions that allow companies to continue to innovate and give consumers the new products and services they desire.”

Mr. David Vladeck, Director, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission 

“Facebook develops innovative products and services that facilitate sharing, self-expression, and connectivity. We work hard to protect individuals’ privacy by giving them control over the information they share and the connections they make. At the same time, Facebook is fundamentally about sharing, and adopting overly restrictive policies will prevent our social features from functioning in the way that individuals expect and demand. Thus, to satisfy people’s expectations, we not only need to innovate to create new protections for individuals’ information; we also need to innovate to ensure that new protections do not interfere with people’s freedom to share and connect. We need to continually evolve our services and the privacy safeguards included in them to respond to the feedback that we receive from the community and as required by law.”

Mr. Bret Taylor, Chief Technology Officer, Facebook 

“The future of the digital marketplace looks bright for small business, so long as the marketplace remains dynamic and competitive. While there are important questions that need to be discussed on personal data collection, retention, and sharing, limiting this question solely to smartphones and mobile apps would be ineffectual and counterproductive. The use of location information and smartphone IDs are providing immense value to consumers. Banning the collection of location data would essentially outlaw these beloved consumer apps while doing nothing to address the big questions about data collection and how that data is used. That is why the Association for Competitive Technology believes that Congress must take a holistic approach to privacy that does not single out any one technology, especially nascent ones. We need to outlaw bad behavior, not good technology.”

Mr. Morgan Reed, Executive Director, Association for Competitive Technology 

“Apple is strongly committed to protecting our customers’ privacy. We give our customers clear notice of our privacy policies, and our mobile products enable our customers to exercise control over their personal information in a simple and elegant way. Apple is constantly innovating new technology, features and designs to provide our customers with greater privacy protection and the best possible user experience. We are also deeply committed to meeting our customers’ demands for prompt and accurate location-based services. These services offer many benefits to our customers by enhancing convenience and safety for shopping, travel and other activities. To meet these goals, Apple provides easy-to-use tools that allow our consumers to control the collection and use of location data on all our mobile devices. Apple does not track users’ locations—Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so.”

Ms. Catherine A. Novelli, Vice President, Worldwide Government Affairs, Apple Inc. 

“Google’s business depends on protecting the privacy and security of our users. Google supports the development of a comprehensive, baseline privacy framework that can ensure broad-based user trust and that will support continued innovation. While much of today’s debate centers on location information and “Do Not Track” advertising privacy proposals, providers and consumers need a comprehensive approach that will set consistent, baseline principles for these issues and those to come in the future. Otherwise, this Committee and others will be returning term after term to address the latest new technology fad. Advances in technology rely not just on the smart engineers who create the new services, but also on smart laws that provide the critical legal underpinning for continued innovation and adoption of the technology.”

Mr. Alan Davidson, Director of Public Policy for the Americas, Google Inc. 

“The extraordinary technological changes and new mobile and social media platforms that have developed in recent years have created entirely new environments for children and teens, with unprecedented and extraordinary implications for their privacy. It is time to update our nation’s privacy policies for the 21st century. They are terribly out of date. Everyone needs to be a part of this new effort: industry, families, schools, policymakers, and young people themselves. But most of all, this Senate and this Congress need to pass fundamental privacy protections for kids and teens—and their families—now.”

Ms. Amy Guggenheim Shenkan, President and Chief Operating Officer, Common Sense Media

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