Morning Consult

Privacy advocates in the technology space have a new ally in Arab American groups to help with their fight to keep US surveillance at bay. They are spurred on by anti-Muslim rhetoric from Republicans. Privacy and civil rights groups are joined by Arab American advocacy groups that call to be more publicly opposed to government surveillance.

In June, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee signed on to two letters to members of Congress, urging lawmakers to fight government surveillance. The letter was co-signed by some of the most notable tech and privacy groups. The first letter, dated June 6, urged members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject an amendment that would allow the Federal Bureau of Investigation to obtain personal information — an individual’s name, postal address, e-mail address, phone number, device serial number, login history and length of service with a provider — through a subpoena instead of a warrant. The supporters of that bill eventually pulled the measure from consideration because of a disagreement over the amendment. The ADC signed on to another letter the following week, pressing House leadership to adopt an amendment to a defense spending bill that would prohibit intelligence officials from conducting warrantless searches of data gathered through Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act. House lawmakers rejected the amendment.

The Republican Party’s policy platform has a lot in it to energize the tech community. It calls for expanding broadband deployment nationwide, providing more spectrum for wireless development, strengthening digital privacy, and modernizing aging government information technology. But the Republicans’ calls for harsher immigration policies, combined with a lack of engagement from Donald Trump, are overshadowing what appeared to be an extension of a GOP olive branch to the United States tech sector.

“I do think the tech industry would say the platform is nice, but the proof is in the pudding of what the candidate wants to do. That’s who’s running the country, not the party, per se,” said Rob Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. “What we’ve seen really in the last six months is that Trump and the party are not the same.” That discord was echoed by Ed Black, president and chief executive of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, which represents companies such as Amazon and Google. “For good or ill, the reality seems to be that there is little reason to believe that the Republican presidential candidate and the platform of the Republican party are mutually trustworthy as guides to what might actually unfold in a Republican controlled federal government,” Black said. “The contradictions expressed during the course of the campaign leave folks unsure as to what might really evolve as policy priorities and initiatives.”

A lobbying group representing companies like Facebook, Spotify and Uber released its 2016 policy platform, with a focus on copyright, consumer privacy and the sharing economy. “Our policy platform is drafted as a go-to blueprint for candidates and their campaigns, regardless of party affiliation,” said Michael Beckerman, president and chief executive of the Internet Association. “While candidates may disagree on any number of issues, support for the continued growth of the internet is good for America and cuts across party lines.”

The group’s policy preferences overlap with some tech components in the GOP’s platform, as well as the tech agenda released by presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. But the Internet Association’s platform is misaligned with the Republican Party’s when it comes to the Federal Communications Commission’s 2015 network neutrality rule and the upcoming transition of the Internet domain naming system away from US control. The GOP criticized the two issues, both of which are supported by the trade group. The Internet Association also called on candidates to keep existing safe harbors in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that provide legal protections to Internet companies when copyrighted content is posted by third-party users.

Health apps and wearable smart technology are a popular commodity in the United States. These apps can help individuals take care of their health by analyzing the amount they exercise, walk, and eat, as well as diagnosing illnesses. Apps can also facilitate face-to-face consultations between doctors and patients and help compare prices for treatments. These apps also take in a lot of consumer data. Lawmakers in the House Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade want to ensure there are safeguards in place for these apps as smart health technology grows in prevalence.

“We need the right regulatory framework in place,” Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the full committee, said at a hearing. “A framework that encourages innovation, removes barriers to investment, and advances new opportunities for patients and providers to engage in the health care system.” Chairman Upton added that privacy and security of data are “absolute musts,” and said it’s “one of the most important policies that industry must show leadership on.”

A growing global trend of data localization, also called data nationalization, is threatening firms’ ability to conduct business around the world. It could jeopardize the American economy more than other countries if it grows, tech experts warned the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade.

Data localization laws include things like a Chinese policy that bars companies from processing or storing Chinese citizens’ financial and credit data offshore, one that several panelists at a House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade pointed to as particularly egregious. There are also laws in Malaysia and South Korea requiring all data about citizens to stay on local servers. A key step for international tech openness, according to the witnesses, will be passing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the massive trade deal signed by the United States and 11 other countries on Feb. 4. Members of Congress from both parties, as well as both presidential candidates, have expressed doubt to outright opposition to TPP because they say it puts the United States at an unfair disadvantage in many areas. GOP leaders say there is almost no chance that Congress will vote on TPP in 2016. But some in the tech community, including the Internet Association, have come out in support of the deal for acknowledging digital trade and including requirements for nations create safe harbors regarding intellectual property law. Subcommittee Chairman Dave Reichert (R-WA) called the “arbitrary blocking of cross-border internet traffic” a long-term problem for the US, especially since digital trade can be such a boon for small businesses.