Federal Privacy Legislation – It’s Coming

It is more a question of when not if, but there is little doubt that federal privacy legislation – in the form of protection of user data and mandated notice procedures if that data is breached. Here’s a quick update from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (“EPIC”). It’s got a link to three bills pending in the Senate. One issue that is causing some controversy is whether federal legislation should preempt existing state laws. EPIC says preemption is a bad idea, arguing that the federal law should be a baseline that allows states to enact more stringent laws if they wish. I suspect any company that does business in more than one state is going to push for a single national standard. In my experience, people value consistency. We’ll see.