Data Clampdown Heats Up

Privacy Laws Are A Matter Of Not If Or When, But How Pervasive.

- Ronan Shields

Regulators are homing in on the practices of the digital media sector’s largest names amid growing public anxiety over data privacy, a zeitgeist that has seen some of the most renown names in the industry hauled in front of elected officials in recent months.

Following the (often acrimonious and still unresolved) enactment of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the E.U., U.S. lawmakers are now following suit with the industry publicly pleading its case. This began in May when Vermont became the first state to pass a law regulating data brokers, and was soon followed by a California law in June that gave state residents the most sweeping online privacy rights in the nation.

The pressing need for such legislation is underlined by a recently published study with Pew Research Center detailing growing concern among the U.S. public. It found that almost three-quarters of participants believe that major tech companies don’t do enough to protect customers’ personal data.

Against this backdrop, the early seeds of a federal law are now being sown.