National Consumers League statement on Obama Administration action on data security – National Consumers League

January 13, 2015

Contact: Ben Klein, National Consumers League, benk@nclnet.org, (202) 835-3323

Washington, DC – The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneering consumer advocacy organization, today applauded the Obama Administration’s efforts to better protect consumers from the threat of cyber attacks. In a speech yesterday at the Federal Trade Commission, the President proposed a new Personal Data Notification and Protection Act that would set a 30-day national data breach notification standard.

NCL has supported a strong national data breach notification standard, modeled after state law in California, which would set a national floor for breach notification without preempting stronger state laws. NCL has also called on Congress to strengthen civil and criminal penalties for malicious hacking and welcomes the recent announcement that the President’s proposal addresses this by criminalizing the overseas trade in stolen identities.

The following statement is attributable to Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director:

“The threat of criminal hacking is eroding consumers’ faith in our interconnected digital economy. We must not allow the immense benefits of our information revolution to fall victim to those who would steal consumers’ personal data for their own gain. The President’s proposal for a national data breach notification standard is an important step forward in giving consumers more control over their data, but there is much more to do. We look forward to learning more about the Administration’s proposal so that consumers will benefit from the strongest possible protections.”

As part of the #DataInsecurity Project, NCL has called on the new Congress to enact a range of reforms to better protect consumers’ data. In addition to data breach notification, NCL has called on Congress to create national data security standards, strengthen the Federal Trade Commission’s civil penalty authority; promote the growth of cyber insurance underwriting standards; increase criminal and civil penalties for malicious hacking; and strengthen international anti-cybercrime partnerships.

For more information on NCL’s 2015 Congressional Data Security Agenda, click here.

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.