Tech Giants Tell Congress They Back Privacy Law—in Theory (1)

Facing growing pressure to protect their customers’ privacy, some of the biggest technology companies told Congress that they favor new federal consumer safeguards but diverged on some of the details.

“Perhaps for the first time, there is widespread agreement among industry, policy makers and many consumer groups of the need for a new and comprehensive federal privacy law,” said Leonard Cali, AT&T Inc.’s senior vice president of global public policy, in his prepared remarks. “Now is the time for decisive congressional leadership to establish a thoughtful and balanced national privacy framework.”

Cali testified alongside representatives from Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Twitter ...