Senate Judiciary Committee to Hold Privacy Hearing April 6

The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing April 6
on protecting privacy in the digital age.

There has been some back-and-forth between the Senate
Commerce Committee, whose chairman, Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) has made online
privacy a priority, over jurisdiction over the that issue. Last month,
Rockefeller and ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) wrote
Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) saying the newly created
Privacy, Technology & Law Subcommittee appears to exceed judiciary'sscope and overlap with legislative matters "squarely within the
jurisdiction of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation
Committee."

In this case, the hearing is in the full committee.

Witnesses are said to be Cameron Kerry,
Commerce Department General Counsel and chair of its Privacy Council, could be
one of them. James Baker, associate deputy attorney general, Justice Department.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.