Alan McQuinn

In an explainer for RealClearPolicy, Alan McQuinn defines data privacy, explains the U.S. approach to data privacy in the private sector, and outlines policy goals Congress should consider.

Congress has taken proactive steps for both drones and supersonic flight with the FAA Reauthorization Act, enabling these U.S. industries to remain competitive and aerospace innovation to proceed apace writes Alan McQuinn in Innovation Files.

The lesson for EU policymakers is clear: do not get seduced by the idea that stringent privacy regulation is a shortcut for digital growth. Enacting even stricter data protection rules, such as the pending ePrivacy Regulation, will come with costs that will hurt not only the EU digital ecosystem but also EU digital consumers.

As Nigel Cory and Alan McQuinn write in The Hill, the U.S. government should use CLOUD Act agreements to push back on foreign practices that force U.S. firms to store data locally.

Americans have made their opinion clear: their privacy concerns are decreasing even without additional privacy laws. The question remains: will policymakers listen?

EU policymakers created the GDPR to protect an individual’s right to privacy—a right that they see worth protecting at any cost. However, its creators did nothing to prevent these costs from being levied on non-Europeans. Policymakers around the world should step in to ensure that if Europe wants privacy, it must pay its own bill.

As ITIF’s Alan McQuinn and Samuel Hammond of the Niskanen Center write for the Daily Caller, the next generation of supersonic passenger jets is projected to be cleaner, cheaper, and more affordable—helping increase accessibility to every corner of Spaceship Earth.

As Alan McQuinn writes for InsideSources, data is not like cash, and enacting laws and regulations based on this misconception would both harm America’s digital economy and consumers.

U.S. policymakers should continue down this path to create more permissive and updated rules for SSTs. Only by allowing the technology to achieve lift-off will policymakers be able to spur investment in supersonic technology and improve its efficiency and effectiveness, writes Alan McQuinn in Innovation Files.

Policies designed to increase consumer trust in technology would likely weaken the U.S. digital ecosystem and lower consumer welfare, Alan McQuinn and Daniel Castro write for the Washington Examiner.

Data protection regulations are often falsely described as means to increase consumer trust, and therefore technology adoption and use. Policymakers should be wary of those making this claim without evidence.

Boosting transatlantic cooperation on ICT policy would allow Canada, the EU, and the United States to address global ICT challenges and support their domestic economies by raising productivity.