Washington — Senator Orrin Hatch, who chairs the Senate’s Republican High Tech Task Force, released his Innovation Agenda at a news conference today. Hatch highlighted better data privacy, which is important both for digital commerce and communication, and asked for reforms to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. He also called for better STEM education, streamlined access to highly skilled foreign workers, continued support for basic research, and reforms to prevent abuse of the patent system.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association has advocated for patent reform, privacy updates and improvements to STEM education and high tech visas for more than two decades.
The following can be attributed to CCIA President & CEO Ed Black:
“We appreciate Senator Hatch for his leadership and plan to boost innovation and remove obstacles that are holding back a leading sector of the economy — technology. He recognizes that abuse of our patent system costs innovative companies billions of dollars a year, and reforms would help curb that drain on time and resources. At the same time we need to modernize electronic privacy laws to better balance the rights of Internet users with law enforcement needs and maintain vital cross-border data flows. So we appreciate Senator Hatch’s call to pass ECPA reform. We look forward to working with Senator Hatch and his staff on his tech agenda for this Congress.”