The House Energy and Commerce Committee canceled a hearing to markup a controversial federal data privacy bill moments before it was to start on Thursday morning. The American Privacy Rights Act (APRA) has been
slammed by civil rights and privacy advocates in recent days and
reportedly also faces strong opposition from Republican leadership.
In a
statement released four minutes before the hearing’s planned 10 a.m. start, Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) indicated she will keep fighting to pass the bill, saying that “for every parent, for individual liberty, and for the future of this country, we will continue our pursuit to give Americans privacy rights online. At its core, the massive commercial surveillance of data is fueling the problem,” the statement said. “Nearly every data point imaginable is being collected on us with no accountability."
“They are using our data against us, sowing division, manipulating truth, and diminishing our personal identities,” she added. Consumers, privacy advocates and industry groups have long sought federal data privacy legislation, with business coalitions saying that a patchwork of state laws with varying privacy protections creates confusion for industry and privacy advocates asserting that state laws are often too weak to give individuals real privacy rights.
