Tech scrambles to navigate White House privacy push

The Trump administration is exploring some sort of national privacy proposal amid efforts by the European Union and California to impose their own data requirements on the tech industry. “Companies are finding themselves squeezed on both sides," said Daniel Castro, vice president of Washington-based think tank Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). Internet giants balked at California's new rules and think Europe's GDPR is a mess, but they also know the industry is developing a reputation for being obstructionist. That might have been no big deal a few years ago, but tech’s standing in Washington, London and Brussels isn't what it used to be, so the industry wants some kind of framework it can publicly support. “A lot of companies want to be able to say, 'Okay. this is what we've done for privacy. This is how we're supporting consumers,’" Castro said. California's law doesn't go into effect until 2020, and if tech manages to win some tweaks to the legislation before then, a national policy may become less important to the industry. At the same time, the possibility that the EU could pull out of the EU-US Privacy Shield, including during the deal’s annual review in October, is a "ticking time bomb," Castro said. Tech doesn't want to see the data-transfer agreement go away, even though some in Europe think the US. hasn’t done its part to deserve renewal. Being able to point to progress on a national privacy policy would be useful evidence that the industry is taking the topic seriously.

One possibility is a US ombudsperson to handle Americans' privacy complaints, akin to one that the EU insisted the US create under Privacy Shield. Another: a federal notice-and-choice policy that informs users about data collection. Tech would love a provision that preempts a patchwork of state privacy laws. What they would hate: Being required to let people freely use their products even if those consumers opt out of having their data sold to advertisers.