ANALYSIS: Next Stop Brussels on the Road to Federal Privacy?

A Senate committee hearing last December sparked hope that a bipartisan consensus on federal privacy legislation may emerge from an otherwise dysfunctional Congress. The hearing principally addressed proposals from Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), who serve as the Chairman and Ranking Member, respectively, of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. A third option—the American Law Institute’s Principles of Law, Data Privacy—seeks to align U.S law closer to the European model, an approach that may boost momentum for a federal privacy solution.

Momentum has not stalled, mind you. The ongoing pandemic has kept privacy front-and-center. ...