Tech Companies Meeting With Trump Administration To Craft New Privacy Laws

Mark Zuckerberg

The Trump administration is working with major tech companies to craft new legislation that would govern how tech companies use and monetize the personal information they gather from customers. 

Over the past month, the Commerce Department has held 22 meetings with representatives from over 80 companies, including Facebook, Google, AT&T, and Comcast. The meetings were meant to discuss ideas on new privacy laws modeled after the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) recently passed by the European Union. 

The GDPR requires companies to obtain users’ consent before collecting their data. It is believed that Google and Facebook have already run afoul of the new regulations, and face hefty fines if they are found to be in violation. 

One of the concerns many tech companies have is that unless the federal government acts, states will pass a patchwork of privacy laws, which could lead to confusion over conflicting regulations. 

“If [the Trump administration] did their version of the privacy bill of rights, and did the necessary legwork to make sure there was a constituency to support it, I think it would be a meaningful step forward … motivating Congress to act,” Dean Garfield, the president of the Information Technology Industry Council, which represents tech giants including Apple, Facebook, and Google, told the Washington Post.

Photo: Getty Images


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