Markey, Barton Pledge to Keep Pushing on Privacy

Joint statement celebrates Data Privacy Day

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/28/2013 3:24:54 PM

The Congressional Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus cochairs celebrated Data Privacy Day on Monday with a call for companies not to collect the personal info of anyone without their consent, and particularly children.

Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas) are political opposites who are joined in their support of kids' do-not-track legislation and greater privacy protections from online tracking generally.

"Privacy is a priority and it should not be taken lightly. We will continue to work with our colleagues to increase privacy protections, and we look forward to working more on this issue during the 113th Congress," they said in a joint statement.

Their do-not-track bill failed to gain traction in the last Congress.

Data Privacy Day marks the anniversary of the signing of the first binding international treaty on privacy and data protection in 1981.

The anniversary was also marked by a forum Monday at George Washington University hosted by the National Cyber Security Alliance.

Congress failed to pass a cybersecurity bill in the last Congress as well, but President Barack Obama has threatened to issue an executive order mandating the creation of voluntary cybersecurity guidelines. Many Republicans in Congress, and many in the ISP community, are concerned that those voluntary standards will turn into government mandates that might limit ISPs' flexibility to react in real time to cyber threats.