dr. spafford, do you agree or disagree with that? >> sir, i disagree because it is possible that disclosure could also include the password necessary to descript those passwords and that would mean that they could then be descripted and read as well. encryption all by itself is not a solution. it has to be such that the encrypted material can also not be read. >> are there any technologies that you believe can be given such a presumption? >> certainly there are. there are some forms of encryption that could be appropriately used if the key material is kept separate for instance but one has to look at the overall risk of whether or not the protected material would be disclosed if that, if that material were breached. >> of course encryption as you said has its downside but do you agree it is still the gold standard? >> some kind are. some forms of encryption can be broken fairly triflly. encryption is, some forms of encryption are very good and some are not. some previously versions of legislation that were introduced in this committe

dr. spafford. you are recognized for five minutes.inaudible comments] >> would you -- is your microphone on? >> is it on now? hello. >> there you go. thank you. just a little closer would help. >> we are extremely pleased to see the committee putting such a high priority in the on the consumers protection in the society. security breaches are sadly nothing new for consumers. as more and more players get access to more and more data, and cost gets lower and lower, consumers are clear at risk for the loss of the personal data. fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, strong law does exist to require companies to put into place reasonable security measures and notify consumers in the event of a breach. the fcc, as director vladeck explained, has required companies to adopt reasonable security measures, not just financial information, but nonfinancial information as well. the considerable majority of states require notification to the consumers in the event of a breach that could result in a monetary loss. i underst