Sens Franken, Leahy: Time for Data Breach, Notification Legislation

Sen Al Franken (D-MN), who presided over portions of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on data breaches, summed up the tenor of the times when he said it was clear such breaches were a systemic problem, an assessment shared by full Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT). There was less unanimity about what to do about it.

Retailers at the hearing talking about their high-profile breaches -- from Target and Neiman Marcus -- cautioned against mandating federal data breach standards given the changing nature of the threat and the need for flexible responses. But Sen Franken said he believed that data breach standards legislation could be written in a "flexible" manner and that Congress needed to act. Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez seconded that.

Chairwoman Ramirez said that the FTC could use help from Congress in three areas:

• civil penalty authority;
• jurisdiction over nonprofits; and
• rulemaking authority to deal with "evolving risks and harms."