Is A National Standard For Data Privacy On The Horizon?

A key congressional subcommittee begins debate today, June 23, 2022, on legislation leaders are calling the closest Congress has ever come to enacting a national standard for data privacy. As an increasing number of states enact consumer privacy laws, many businesses must comply with seemingly conflicting standards on what information they may collect, what they may – and may not – do with this data, and what level of notice they must give to and permission they must obtain from consumers before collecting personal information. A national standard would reconcile many of these inconsistencies among state laws, including:

• Which businesses are subject to each state's privacy law. Thresholds for which businesses are subject to state data privacy laws include the amount of revenue a company generates, either overall or through certain endeavors relating to the sale of personal data; the number of consumers whose data the business possesses; and whether the business