Tech Industry Pursues a Federal Privacy Law, on Its Own Terms

In recent months, apparently, Facebook, Google, IBM, Microsoft and others have aggressively lobbied officials in the Trump administration and elsewhere to start outlining a federal privacy law. The law would have a dual purpose, they said: It would overrule the California law and instead put into place a kinder set of rules that would give the companies wide leeway over how personal digital information was handled. The efforts could set up a big fight with consumer and privacy groups. Many of the internet companies depend on the collection and analysis of such data to help them target the online ads that generate the bulk of their revenue.

“It’s clear that the strategy here is to neuter California for something much weaker on the federal level,” said Ernesto Falcon, legislative counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “The companies are afraid of California because it sets the bar for other states.”