Senate tussles over online privacy

Washington tech leaders saw nothing coincidental about Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller’s release of an online-tracking bill last week just a day before Sen. Al Franken’s new privacy panel grilled Apple and Google. To many, the West Virginia Democrat’s timing doubled as a shot across the bow. It was a sign that the chairman would defend the Commerce Committee’s claim to the online privacy debate, even as Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, and the Senate Judiciary Committee’s new privacy panel also dug further into the issue.

“Sen. Rockefeller [had] an added incentive to move forward on digital privacy issues, because in doing so he’s not only protecting millions of consumers, he’s also protecting the prerogative of every member of his own committee,” one former Hill aide who closely follows privacy policy. That’s precisely the game of one-upmanship that’s been brewing in the Senate for months, according to tech insiders. It’s an inside-the-Beltway power struggle that potentially spells political trouble for online privacy legislation at a time when many lawmakers say new rules are needed for Web companies like Google and smartphone-makers like Apple.