Cameron F. Kerry is the Ann R. and Andrew H. Tisch Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, and is Senior Counsel at Sidley Austin. He previously served as general counsel and acting secretary of the Department of Commerce.
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Adapted from a June 2020 Brookings report, this is the third in a series of Lawfare posts on proposed federal privacy legislation. This piece addresses the role of civil rights in privacy legislation.
Adapted from a June 2020 Brookings report, this is the second in a series of Lawfare posts on proposed federal privacy legislation. This piece addresses private rights of action for individuals.
Adapted from a June 2020 Brookings report, this is the first in a series of Lawfare posts addressing federal privacy legislation. This piece focuses on proposals for federal preemption of state privacy laws, and the next piece will focus on a right for individuals.
As a proponent of baseline federal privacy legislation, I am encouraged that proposals that would have been poison pills not long ago, such as individual rights to see, correct and delete data as well as new authority for the Federal Trade Commission, are drawing wide support now. But some crucial and difficult issues remain wide open.
A Congress that begins with a government shutdown carrying over and a raft of subpoenas to the executive branch issued by incoming House committee chairs promises to be at least as polarized and partisan as its predecessor. Even so, legislators want to legislate, and will seek some opportunities for bipartisan agreement. One area where this may happen is federal legislation to protect personal information privacy.
The White House’s announcement of the intended nominations of Travis LeBlanc and Aditya Bamzai to be members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) is a welcome development for this low-profile but increasingly significant board.
“I Love Lucy” provides the central metaphor for a Brookings paper released today on what to do to protect privacy. It comes from the episode where Lucy goes to work wrapping candies on an assembly line. The line keeps speeding up with the candies coming closer together, and, as they fall farther behind, Lucy and her sidekick Ethel scramble harder to keep up. “I think we’re fighting a losing game,” Lucy says.