Department of Commerce Issues Notice of Inquiry on Information Privacy and Innovation

On April 20, 2010, the Department of Commerce (“DOC”) launched a wide-sweeping, holistic review to determine the impact of U.S. and foreign privacy laws on innovation on the Internet economy. The Notice of Inquiry (“NOI”) recognizes not only the jurisdictionally fractured and often sectoral nature of privacy laws in the U.S., but also acknowledges that sister agencies, including the FTC’s roundtables regarding collection of consumer data and the FCC’s recommendations imbedded in its recently released National Broadband Plan are concurrently working on Internet privacy related policy and regulation. This proceeding, however, is distinguishable and remains important.

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