Today, Senators John Kerry and John McCain introduced a piece of legislation known as the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011.  It’s designed to regulate how firms should handle consumers’ personal data, and while that’s a complicated issue, eBay, HP, Intel, and Microsoft wasted no time in voicing their approval.

A few obvious thoughts: it’s interesting to see Kerry and McCain working together, and the existence of that partnership is sure to increase the odds of this bill becoming law.

Also, it’s interesting to see eBay, HP, Intel, and Microsoft form a team.

Finally, while their PR reps might be writing congratulatory blog posts right now, it’s hard not to notice that Google and Facebook – two companies that have as much consumer info as anyone – didn’t contribute to the tech firms’ joint statement.

Anyway, the four companies said together, “We have long advocated for comprehensive federal privacy legislation, which we believe will support business growth, promote innovation and ensure consumer trust in the use of technology.  The complexity of existing privacy regulations makes it difficult for many businesses to comply with the law.”

Then the statement continued, “We support the bill’s overall framework, which is built upon the Fair Information Practices principles.  We appreciate that this legislation is technology neutral and allows for flexibility to adapt to changes in technology.  The bill also strikes the appropriate balance by providing businesses with the opportunity to enter into a robust self-regulatory program.”

We’ll be sure to report how the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011 fares.