Senate Commerce Committee Hearing – Protecting Consumers in the Era of Major Data Breaches – November 8, 2017: “…“Massive data breaches have touched the vast majority of American consumers,” said [Senator John] Thune [R- S.D.]. “When such breaches occur, urgent action is necessary to protect sensitive personal information. This hearing will give the public the opportunity to hear from those in charge, at the time major breaches occurred and during the subsequent response efforts, at two large companies who lost personal consumer data to nefarious actors.”

Washington Post – “The hearing into the data breaches — the fifth so far — featured testimony from current and former officials from Equifax, Yahoo and Verizon, and added to the uproar about the company’s policies and its response to the breach. In one notable exchange, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) asked the interim chief executive officer of Equifax, Paulino do Rego Barros, why consumers do not have a say in opting in or out of the company’s data collection. “This is part of the way the economy works,” Barros said. But he was swiftly interrupted. “The consumer doesn’t have a choice, sir. The consumer does not have a choice on the data that you’re collecting,” Masto said…” [emphasis added]

See also – Testimony and Statement for the Record of Bruce Schneier, Fellow and Lecturer, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. Hearing on “Securing Consumers’ Credit Data in the Age of Digital Commerce” Before the Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee on Energy and Commerce United States House of Representatives. 1 November 2017.