Apple and Google to face another Senate privacy hearing

Barely a week after sending its vice president of software, Bud Tribble, to Capitol Hill for a hearing about location data, Apple is due back before the Senate again. This time around, Apple is sending Catherine A. Novelli, its vice president for worldwide government affairs; the topic for the May 19 hearing is Consumer Privacy and Protection in the Mobile Marketplace.

Novelli will be joined by Facebook CTO Bret Taylor, Google's director of public policy for the Americas Alan Davidson, and Common Sense Media's president and COO, Amy Guggenheim Shenkan.

The hearing falls under the purview of the Senate's Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Insurance Subcommittee, led by Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV (D-WV). Before the Internet company all-stars testify, the subcommittee will hear from David Vladeck, the director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection for the Federal Trade Commission.

It's possible—and perhaps even likely—that Apple will again be questioned on the iPhone's seemingly overzealous location data tracking, which the company blamed largely on bugs it patched with the release of iOS 4.3.3 earlier in May.