Committees on Energy and Commerce and Financial Services Introduce Pair of Privacy Bills to Establish Comprehensive Data Protections for All Americans The Committee on Energy and Commerce is the oldest standing legislative committee in the U.S. House of Representatives and is vested with the broadest jurisdiction of any congressional authorizing com...

⏩ Read the press release here: energycommerce.house.gov/posts/commit...

Committees on Energy and Commerce and Financial Services Introduce Pair of Privacy Bills to Establish Comprehensive Data Protections for All Americans The Committee on Energy and Commerce is the oldest standing legislative committee in the U.S. House of Representatives and is vested with the broadest jurisdiction of any congressional authorizing com...

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Data Privacy Working Group released their long-awaited comprehensive consumer privacy bill today alongside a financial privacy bill from the House Committee on Financial Services. Stay tuned for analysis from me and my team.

We had to wait almost two years between when the 19th and 20th state comprehensive privacy laws were enacted, but the gap between the 20th and 21st proved to be a mere month. The Alabama Personal Data Protection Act (APDPA) was signed into law on April 16.

⏩ Read my overview here: lnkd.in/gszqwsiQ

A coalition of 17 state AGs have written to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee and the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability to express concerns with AI-driven mass surveillance and government purchase of large datasets:
coag.gov/app/uploads/...

For the first time in nearly two years, we have a new state comprehensive privacy law! Oklahoma SB 546 was signed over the weekend, making it the long-awaited 20th state comprehensive privacy law.

⏩ See my blog post: fpf.org/blog/privacy...

(e.g., distinguishing between processing that is necessary to provide a requested product or service versus other "ancillary" activities). Excited to dig into this one!

that balances the business’s needs against potential privacy harms to a consumer and a consumer’s reasonable expectations. There appear to be tiered requirements for different processing purposes ...

requirements similar to those I've been writing about over the last few years (see my 2025 paper on this papers.ssrn.com/id=5309096). This bill adds a new variation to that landscape, requiring covered entities to have a “reasonable, articulated basis” for processing personal information ...

Note that this is not the rumored Republican-led bill that many people have been anticipating from the House Energy & Commerce Committee.

I haven't done a deep dive on the bill yet, but one thing of immediate interest to me is data minimization. This bill includes substantive data minimization ...

There's been a recent uptick in federal legislative activity on privacy lately. Continuing that trend, Rep. Lofgren (D-CA) released a comprehensive privacy bill this week.

Read the bill here: lofgren.house.gov/sites/evo-su...

a young boy wearing a birthday hat is sitting at a table with a plate of food and a cup . ALT: a young boy wearing a birthday hat is sitting at a table with a plate of food and a cup .

Me picking the Badgers to go all the way every year:

Congratulations, Woody!

Finding good use for those alumni magazines I get, @wmcgeveran.bsky.social

I've entered the "makes collages about the rule of law" phase of my life, apparently

Representative Trahan's (D-MA) office has released a new report, "Privacy, Trust, and Effective Government: A Bipartisan Blueprint for Modernizing the Privacy Act."

trahan.house.gov/uploadedfile...

FTC Reminds Data Brokers of Their Obligations to Comply with PADFAA The Federal Trade Commission sent letters to 13 data brokers warning them of their responsibility to comply with the Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024 (PADFAA).

prohibits data brokers from making Americans' personally identifiable sensitive data available to foreign adversary countries or entities controlled by foreign adversary countries.
www.ftc.gov/news-events/... (2/2)

The FTC announced that it sent warning letters to 13 data brokers reminding them of their responsibilities under the Protection Americans' Data from Foreign Adversaries Act (PADFAA), which (1/2)

📜 Finally, outside of my work at FPF, I continue to pursue academic writing. The GW Journal of Law & Technology recently published the latest piece from me, @hartzog.bsky.social, and Neil Richards, "Privacy's Autonomy Thicket: Disentangling Choice, Consent, and Control." papers.ssrn.com/id=5835022

FPF Retrospective: U.S. Privacy Enforcement in 2025 The U.S. privacy law landscape continues to mature as new laws go into effect, cure periods expire, and regulators interpret the law through enforcement actions and guidance. State attorneys general a...

⏭️ This week FPF released a retrospective on U.S. Privacy Enforcement in 2025. We looked back at enforcement activity by state attorneys general and the FTC in the past year and highlighted notable trends: fpf.org/blog/fpf-ret...

Local chapter meetings | IAPP The IAPP is a policy neutral, not-for-profit association founded in 2000 with a mission to define, promote and improve the professions of privacy, AI governance and digital responsibility globally.

A little roundup of some professional news:

🟢 This year I am serving as the Young Privacy Professional for the Southern Wisconsin IAPP KnowledgeNet chapter. Our first event of the year is next Friday, February 13, where I will be hosting "I ❤️ Privacy" virtual trivia.
iapp.org/community/lo...

I move back to WI and suddenly the legislature's moving on their two comprehensive privacy bills, there's an Age-Appropriate Design Code introduced, an App Store Accountability Act introduced, and now a proposed privacy constitutional amendment?

Wisconsin Democrats propose constitutional amendment for privacy rights MADISON, Wis. — Democratic lawmakers in Wisconsin are advancing legislation to amend the state constitution, seeking to establish an individual, fundamental right to privacy for all Wisconsinites.

A proposed constitutional amendment adding a right to privacy introduced in Wisconsin: www.channel3000.com/news/wiscons...

Interested in state constitutional rights to privacy? I recommend Tiffany Li's excellent article from last fall: georgialawreview.org/wp-content/u...

The panels are:
⏩ Quantifying Injuries and Benefits to Consumers (two panels on this)
⏩ Data Breaches, Impacts on Consumers, and Efforts to Minimize Injuries
⏩ The Costs and Benefits of Behavioral & Contextual Advertising
⏩ Measuring Consumer Preferences, Beliefs, and Decisions

Consumer Injuries and Benefits in the Data-Driven Economy The Workshop on Consumer Injuries and Benefits in the Data-Driven Economy will bring together economists, academics, and other experts to examine how the agency can better understand and measure co

The agenda is up for the FTC's February 26 workshop on "Consumer Injuries and Benefits in the Data-Driven Economy."

www.ftc.gov/news-events/...

FPF announced the winners of our annual Privacy Papers for Policymakers Awards! 🏆 The #PPPM Awards recognize leading U.S. & international privacy scholarship. Learn more & save the date for the upcoming webinars.
fpf.org/press-releas...

✨We'll be posting more here on @bsky.app - follow for updates!

Happy Data Privacy Day! As always, a busy day for me and my colleagues ⬇️

Some of my personal favorite writing on this subject: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Age Verification Workshop The Age Verification Workshop will bring together a diverse group of stakeholders, including researchers, academics, industry representatives, consumer advocates, and government regulators, to disc

More details on the #AgeVerification FTC workshop next week. Not a *lot* of opposition to age verification generally, but at least some panelists will bring some well-needed nuance!

#Privacy #ArtificialIntelligence

Feeling the loss of WisEye today as I'm unable to make it to a hearing on less than 30 minutes notice

The Fiduciary in the Machine As AI shifts from tools to agents, fiduciary duty is tested. An analysis of agentic AI, professional services, and emerging legal frameworks.

Excellent article from Brenda Leong and Andrew Eichen on fiduciary duties and AI agents: www.zwillgen.com/artificial-i...