Across the United States, evolving data collection and processing practices and advances in artificial intelligence are driving new digital services, technologies, and socially beneficial research – while also raising new opportunities, risks, and questions for individuals and communities. In response, state and federal policymakers are considering new legislative and regulatory frameworks on three interconnected fronts: comprehensive consumer privacy laws that establish baseline rights and protections for personal data across the economy; frameworks that target specific sectors and practices such as automated decisionmaking, biometric identification, companion chatbots, data-driven pricing, data brokerage, frontier AI model safety, genetic data, and health data; and youth-specific privacy and online safety laws that set distinct rules for minors. These three tracks rarely stay in their lanes: a comprehensive privacy law may include AI provisions, an AI safety bill may carve out rules for minors, a youth online safety law may hinge on biometric age verification. Understanding the landscape requires understanding both the individual pieces and how they fit together.
FPF’s U.S. Legislation team provides expert, independent, pragmatic analysis of state and federal legislative and regulatory approaches to privacy, AI, and youth online safety – three distinct but increasingly intertwined issue areas. The team tracks emerging proposals, compares new laws against existing frameworks, analyzes implementation and compliance implications, and helps policymakers and stakeholders understand how legal requirements interact with current technologies, business practices, and data uses.
Through reports, blog posts, legislative and policy analyses, webinars, in-person and virtual peer-to-peer gatherings, and educational programs, FPF helps the broader technology policy and governance community understand the mechanisms and strategies available to protect privacy, promote responsible AI development and deployment, and advance youth online safety. FPF does not typically support or oppose particular bills. Instead, the U.S. Legislation team focuses on explaining the practical and legal implications of proposals – individually and as they interact with one another. This work helps ensure that privacy, AI, and youth safety compliance and policy strategies remain future-looking, adaptable, and workable for the continued, beneficial use of data and AI.
FPF’s U.S. Legislation team is led by Tatiana Rice, Senior Director.
FPF Hosted a CPDP 2021 Panel on US Privacy Law: The Beginning of a New Era
By Srivats Shankar, FPF Legal Intern For the 14th annual Computers, Privacy and Data Protection conference, which took place between 27 and 29 January, 2021, FPF hosted a panel of experts to discuss “US Privacy Law: The Beginning of a New Era”, whose recording has just been published. The panel was moderated by Dr. Gabriela […]
FPF Testifies on Maryland Student Data Privacy Bill
Amelia Vance, Director of Youth and Education Privacy for FPF, recently testified before the Maryland House Ways and Means Committee on HB 1062. The legislation proposes several updates to the state’s Student Data Privacy Act, and an extension of the Maryland Student Data Privacy Council, which Vance was asked to serve on when it was […]
Statement on Passage of the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act
Statement by Future of Privacy Forum CEO Jules Polonetsky regarding the approval of the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act: “Today, Governor Ralph Northam signed the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (CDPA), making Virginia the second state, following California, to establish baseline legal protections for consumer privacy – a significant milestone in the United States. The […]
Acting FTC Chairwoman Slaughter Highlights Priorities in Privacy Papers for Policymakers Event Keynote
The Future of Privacy Forum’s 11th-annual Privacy Papers for Policymakers event – the first event in the series to take place virtually – was a success! This year’s event featured a keynote speech by Acting FTC Chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and facilitated discussions between the winning authors – Amy B. Cyphert, Clarisse Girot, Brittan Heller, Tiffany C. […]
Emerging Patchwork or Laboratories of Democracy? Privacy Legislation in Virginia and Other States
Stacey Gray, Pollyanna Sanderson & Samuel Adams In the absence of federal privacy legislation, U.S. states are weighing in. In Virginia, the “Consumer Data Protection Act” (“CDPA”) (HB 2307 / SB 1392) could be signed into law within weeks, and if passed, would take effect on Jan. 1, 2023. If the law passes, it would […]
How Federal Privacy Legislation Could Affect US-EU-UK Relations
With more than 30 bills filed in the United States Congress since 2018 to regulate privacy with overwhelming support from the public, it looks like the US might be going through a ‘privacy renaissance’. This week, FPF Senior Counsel Dr. Gabriela Zanfir-Fortuna’s article, “America’s ‘privacy renaissance’: What to expect under a new presidency and Congress,” […]
Legislative Findings: Brookings Builds on U.S. Privacy Legislation Report
Today, the Brookings Institution released model legislative findings for federal privacy legislation, intended to accompany the model privacy legislation they published in June, 2020. The findings are designed to motivate discussion and to reconcile differences between two of the leading proposals: Sen. Maria Cantwell’s (D-WA) Consumer Online Privacy Rights Act and Sen. Roger Wicker’s (R-MS) SAFE DATA Act. The legislative findings also […]
California’s Prop 24, the “California Privacy Rights Act,” Passed. What’s Next?
Authors: Stacey Gray, Senior Counsel, Katelyn Ringrose, Christopher Wolf Diversity Law Fellow at FPF, Polly Sanderson, Policy Counsel, and Veronica Alix, FPF Legal Intern Despite a day of election uncertainty, November 3, 2020 produced an important moment for privacy legislation: California voters approved Proposition 24 (the California Privacy Rights Act) (CPRA) (full text here). Garnering 56.1% of the vote so far, […]
21st Century Cures Act Final Rule: Key Health Data Privacy Considerations
On the eve of a key compliance date, the HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) extended deadlines for entities working in health information technology to comply with a new federal rule intended to “promote health care choice and competition across the United States” and “advance interoperability and support the access, exchange, and […]
Event Recap: Panel at the Annual Privacy Forum 2020
Authors: Hunter Dorwart and Rob van Eijk To track and to get tracked: new innovative methods and advancements On September 30, 2020, the Future of Privacy Forum participated in a panel at the Annual Privacy Forum 2020 (APF-2020). The event is organized annually by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), the Directorate-General for Communications […]