Consumer Privacy Before Congress This Week: What We Learned and What’s Next

The week of Feb 25 featured back-to-back privacy hearings on Capitol Hill to discuss principles for federal privacy legislation. Industry players that have fiercely lobbied against federal privacy legislation in years past are now suddenly calling on Congress to pass a comprehensive privacy bill. Here’s a quick look at what happened in each hearing and a few key takeaways. 

1. Senate Republicans have gotten slightly further along than their House counterparts in moving beyond the issue of preempting state laws, but the debate is still devoting too much time to it.
2. Democrats in both chambers are eager to move the conversation beyond notice and choice.
3. This debate still has a long way to go.