Washington, D.C. – TechNet, the national, bipartisan network of innovation economy CEOs and senior executives, today sent a letter to Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-MS) expressing support for recent comments on passing a federal data privacy law. The following can be attributed to TechNet SVP Carl Holshouser:
“The need for a federal privacy standard has never been greater. Since 2020, 37 states have introduced or passed different, and often conflicting, data privacy bills. This patchwork of state laws is confusing consumers and hurting businesses, especially small businesses who are already struggling through the pandemic and record inflation. In fact, failing to pass a federal privacy law would cost more than $1 trillion to our economy over 10 years, with more than $200 billion being paid by small businesses.
“Rather than forcing American consumers and companies to navigate a growing number of different state privacy laws, we need a unified approach that gives consumers confidence that their data and privacy are protected no matter where they live while giving businesses across industries certainty so they can spend their resources on creating jobs, not paying legal bills.
“With cyber threats increasing by the day, passing a federal privacy law is also a national security concern. If no federal action is taken and businesses are forced to navigate and comply with 50 different sets of privacy laws, consumer data protection will be uneven and at greater risk for ransomware, malware, and foreign cyber threats that are becoming more frequent and more dangerous.
“We applaud Senators Cantwell and Wicker for their commitment to advancing a federal privacy bill and will continue to work with Congress and the Administration to protect consumers, help small businesses, and propel our economy forward.”