WASHINGTON, D.C.—Chairman John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV today announced the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will hold a hearing on consumer protection and privacy in the mobile marketplace in May:

“Modern technology has connected people around the world and led to great innovations, helpful products and new experiences,” Chairman Rockefeller said. “But with new portable technologies consumers are encountering a mobile marketplace that collects and uses a wide range of personal information—often with inadequate or untimely disclosure. Reports of mobile devices tracking the location of users is just the latest in a string of concerns raised in the mobile marketplace. This committee has investigated this in the past, and it is appropriate to review it again. That is why I intend to hold a hearing on this issue next month. Consumers deserve to know exactly what information is being collected about them, how it is being used, and should be able to say no to undesired collection of information. Concentration in the mobile platform market raises further concerns about whether or not competition will drive pro-consumer practices."

The May hearing on mobile privacy is the Commerce Committee's sixth hearing on consumer privacy in the past year. The Committee has a long history of considering and moving privacy legislation, including the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the CAN-SPAM Act.

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