WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, and ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, released the following statement today at the beginning of the committee’s markup of H.R. 2221, the Data Accountability and Trust Act; and H.R. 1319, the Informed P2P User Act:

“First, let me compliment you, Mr. Chairman, for pulling the mercury bill. I think that would have been a long, drawn-out process had you wanted to mark the bill up and I think it was a wise decision to remove it from today’s markup.

“On the other two bills, we do have bipartisan cooperation. H.R. 2221, known as ‘the DATA bill,’ is something we considered in this committee at the beginning of the 109th Congress. It’s still timely today because it addresses an important problem: the breach of personal information and notification to people who are affected so they can take appropriate precautions. We’ve worked on this effort in the past and I am pleased that the product before us today is a result of those bipartisan discussions. As this bill moved through subcommittee, we agreed on a manager’s mark containing several common-sense amendments in response to stakeholder concerns. We also pledged to continue working on the provisions that required more attention. Today we have a manager’s mark that does represent further improvements based on our bipartisan work. I think this strengthens the bill.

“Despite the FTC’s aggressive enforcement efforts and increased attention on safeguarding personal information, identity theft remains a serious threat. This legislation helps guard against criminals’ malicious behavior by establishing a national requirement for companies to maintain enhanced security of consumers’ personal data. Additionally, consumers will benefit from notification in order to take swift, proactive measures to protect their identity. I this is a good bill and I hope everyone on the committee supports it.

“The second piece before us, H.R. 1319, is a simple, straightforward bill. Before people install peer-to-peer software, they should be made aware of what it does. P2P technology allows for easy sharing of files between users, but it can also facilitate accidental sharing of personal files. Despite some effort by some in the industry, there has been no consensus solution developed to address the problem.

“H.R 1319 establishes a clear notice-and-consent regime. It requires P2P software be accompanied by a notice that a human being of average intelligence can read and actually understand. This notice will explain how the software makes a user’s files available to other users and it requires consent prior to download, installation, and activation. The legislation makes unlawful the deceitful practice of forcing the installation of P2P software or preventing its removal. Given the state of the industry and the many reports of identity theft and security breaches, I hope that we pass this bill.

“I want to commend Ms. Bono Mack for bringing this issue to our attention, and I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Subcommittee Chairman Rush for their bipartisanship in this effort. I also want to thank the relevant stakeholders who have worked closely with various staff to solve the complicated technical issues involved.

“I’d also like to comment on process. Everybody here knows how much I love the reliable value of regular order in nearly everything we do on the committee,  but some logical exception exists for nearly every rule, and today we have before us the reasonable exception. Given the complex technical issues I’ve already mentioned, we made a bipartisan decision to bypass the subcommittee markup while we worked collaboratively to get this bill right. I want to thank the other cosponsors for facilitating this process.”