ADPPA Would Still Impose Unnecessary Costs on Businesses, Says ITIF

WASHINGTON—Following the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s markup of the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA), the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the leading think tank for science and technology policy, issued the following statement from Senior Policy Analyst Ashley Johnson:

As states continue to pass their own data privacy laws, Congress must create a national standard to protect consumer privacy without hindering productivity and innovation. In many respects, the ADPPA is a sensible, bipartisan compromise on privacy. However, after today’s committee markup, its most problematic provisions remain.

The ADPPA would not preempt all state privacy laws, leading to a patchwork of different standards on certain privacy issues and driving up compliance costs for businesses with customers in multiple states. The amended text of the bill exempts small businesses from the private right of action, but it still leaves the door open for expensive, frivolous lawsuits for many businesses. Strong enforcement by the FTC and state authorities is enough to protect consumer privacy.

As the ADPPA continues to the House floor, lawmakers should focus on improving the state preemption provisions and eliminating the private right of action to establish a strong privacy standard without negatively impacting innovation.