Privacy Advocates Push Lawmakers • Audit Looming for Facebook?

The drumbeat for a new federal privacy law keeps getting louder.

Privacy advocates told Senate lawmakers that any new law they’re considering should empower the FTC to crack down on consumer data breaches. A new federal law should contain rules similar to tough new data protection laws recently enacted in the European Union and California, they said.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, agreed that the laws in Europe and California provide “useful examples” in federal legislation.

But a federal law shouldn’t hinder states’ rights to pass their own privacy laws, Laura Moy, ...