The White House is about to create a new position to oversee Internet privacy policy, according to The Wall Street Journal. The position will be formally unveiled in a US Commerce Department report, which will be released in coming weeks.
According to the Journal, “The initiatives would mark a turning point in Internet policy. Recent administrations typically steered away from Internet regulations out of concern for stifling innovation. But the increasingly central role of personal information in the Internet economy helped spark government action.”
However, the White House could face substantial political hurdles to its privacy agency because House of Representatives Republicans are “unlikely to support any bill to expand the enforcement powers of the Federal Trade Commission.”
