Berkeley Center for Consumer Law & Economic Justice Senior Fellow Samuel Levine testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law about the harms that emerging technologies pose to consumers’ privacy and personal information. The hearing, “Protecting the Virtual You: Safeguarding American’s Online Data,” touched on tech privacy threats that Americans face absent any commonsense regulatory guardrails — from the use of sensitive personal data by healthcare providers and targeted advertisers, to the proliferation of online scams, to the increasing adoption of AI in everyday life.
In his testimony, Levine — former director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection — described the threat of practices like surveillance pricing and unchecked data harvesting to economic fairness, democratic freedoms, and the health and safety of kids and teens.
Rising UC Berkeley Law 3L Abby Smith, former co-leader of the student-led Consumer Advocacy and Protection Society and Consumer Protection Public Policy Order, helped Levine prepare his testimony.