Senator John Cornyn (R-TX): “I do have concerns about the impact of this bill on American businesses’ ability to compete in a global economy. And that it will also… uh, create potential harmful impacts on our national security. I think there are also questions about cyber security and data privacy that have not been answered.”
Senator Chris Coons (D-DE): “I have significant concerns, um, to balance about whether or not this bill achieves the right balance between the costs and inefficiencies of litigation and compliance and potentially unintended negative consequences on the competitiveness globally of our digital democracy principles on the world stage and whether or not we’re achieving enough progress in terms of combatting anti-competitive behavior on the other…I am not yet persuaded the legislation would most efficiently address anti-competitive behavior while improving the state of play for consumers and their privacy and data security. Um, I have remaining concerns about privacy and security… about our global competitiveness and about services that are widely popular with consumers and my constituents.”
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA): “The bill causes some very significant security concerns…But this bill would actually prevent companies, like Apple, from taking steps to ensure that an application is safe before you download it from your phone. This makes no sense. We’re requiring companies to take down protections that are in place today and instead allow hackers and those looking to steal personal data to access the devices. I’m told that federal agencies have concerns about these provisions, but this committee has not had the benefit of their input.”
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT): “I think the bill makes it too difficult for online platforms to adequately protect consumers privacy. The bill creates a bar that’s far too high for platforms to protect privacy without worrying about being penalized, which I… I worry could lead to a race to the bottom on America’s privacy…I also want to make sure we’re not inadvertently harming our national security.”
###