E-giants lobby for privacy laws.(REGULATORY UPDATE)

R & D, July, 2006

Technology giants, including Intel, and Microsoft, are fighting for Congress to write uniform privacy standards, relieving the industry from "a complex patchwork" of laws. Scott Taylor, Chief Privacy Officer for Hewlett-Packard, Palo Alto, Calif., presented these ideas recently at a hearing by a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee, Taylor called for "comprehensive harmonized federal privacy legislation."

In contrast, Thomas Lenard, VP at the think tank Progress and Freedom Foundation, points out that there are already enough incentives for the market to protect consumer privacy, namely damaged reputation and lost profits.

Progress and Freedom Foundation, www.pff.org/