On the recordApril 17, 2013
I thank the gentleman for yielding the additional time. And just to respond to my colleague, I'd be interested to know if there is anything you can point to in those 17 amendments that governs or requires the private sector, when it shares information with other private sector entities, to remove personally identifiable information. Because under the bill, the only minimization that's required is being done by the government; and in the case of private-to-private sector sharing, there is no government role. So this is the big hole. While there are many private sector companies that may support the bill because it gives them broad immunity without any responsibility, that doesn't mean it's good policy, particularly when private companies have said they would make reasonable efforts. They're willing to do it; they can do it; they have the capacity to do it; we're just not asking them to do it or requiring them to do it. And we're giving something of great value to them, and that is we're giving them broad immunity. I think with that immunity ought to come some responsibility; and it shouldn't be too much to ask that that responsibility take the form of a reasonable effort, not a herculean one, not an impossible one, but a reasonable effort to ensure that Americans' privacy interests are observed and they take out that information when they can.
