For years, the business community has been calling for a comprehensive federal privacy law, frustrated with operating under a patchwork of sometimes-conflicting state laws. Now, Congress is considering one that’s extremely wide-ranging and that observers say has a legitimate chance of passage.
The American Privacy Rights Act—unveiled over the weekend by Senate Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) and House Commerce Committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Washington)—would cover every company with annual revenue topping $40 million, along with nonprofits, a realm previously untouched by the privacy regime.
