Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On August 29, 2018, Bloomberg Law reported that four Senate Commerce Committee members are discussing a potential online privacy bill. The bipartisan group consists of Senators Jerry Moran (R-KS), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Brian Schatz (D-HI), according to anonymous Senate aides.

Specific details of the possible bill are unknown. The proposal may compete with a bill being developed by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD), and is a further indication of increased Congressional interest in enacting a broad online privacy bill. Such interest sharpened in a year of increased scrutiny and legal developments in the privacy arena, including the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation and the recently enacted California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018.

Alongside these reported Congressional efforts, the Trump Administration, through the National Economic Council and the Commerce Department, is said developing an online privacy proposal to send to Congress.