Senate Judiciary Committee Announces New Subcommittees, Assignments

The Senate Judiciary Committee will have a new subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law. The subcommittee will be chaired by Sen Al Franken (D-MN) and the Ranking member will be Sen Tom Coburn (R-OK).

The panel will oversee laws and policies governing the collection, protection, use and dissemination of commercial information by the private sector, including online behavioral advertising, privacy within social networking Web sites and other online privacy issues. It will enforce privacy laws and policies and encourage privacy standards for how companies collect, retain and share private information that can pinpoint a user. Other Democratic Senators on the subcommittee will include Chuck Schumer of New York, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. Republican Senators on the subcommittee will include Orrin Hatch of Utah and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.