Rep. Terry to take over key privacy post

By Brendan Sasso - 11/28/12 05:39 PM ET

Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) will takeover as chairman of a subcommittee with jurisdiction over online privacy issues in the next Congress.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) announced on Wednesday that Terry will take the place of Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.) as chairman of the Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade subcommittee.

Bono Mack narrowly lost her bid for reelection to emergency room doctor Raul Ruiz.

The subcommittee has jurisdiction over the Federal Trade Commission and its efforts to protect online privacy. The FTC is currently working to update the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, which restricts the ability of websites to collect information on children younger than 13.

As chairman, Bono Mack held a series of hearings to examine how Google, Facebook and other Web companies handle their users' personal information. She also pushed a data protection bill, which would have established a national standard requiring companies to notify their customers if their personal information is hacked.

Terry will take over the subcommittee instead of Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), the next Republican in line. Terry was the second-ranking Republican on the Communications and Technology subcommittee, but current Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) chose to keep his post.

Upton named Blackburn the vice chairman of the full committee.

Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) will take over the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee from Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), who lost his primary earlier this year. The Oversight panel investigated the administration's support for failed solar firm Solynda and the Federal Communications Commission's review of wireless venture LightSquared.

“Jobs are, and will continue to be, job one," Upton said in a statement. "We must strive for a smaller, modernized government geared for the innovation era, where the obsolete programs of yesterday are abandoned for fresh approaches that unleash growth and advancement in all sectors — communications, health, manufacturing, and energy. We must also stand up for families, communities, and successful civic initiatives that are working at the state and local level.”