Why The Tech Industry Wants Federal Control Over Data Privacy Laws

New laws in Europe and California are forcing tech companies to protect users' privacy or risk big fines. Now, the industry is fearing that more states will enact tough restrictions. So it's moving to craft federal legislation that would pre-empt state laws and might put the Federal Trade Commission in charge of enforcement. Europe enacted a tough law in May which requires, among other things, that companies make data breaches public within 72 hours of discovering them. That's why Facebook had to promptly announce last month that its systems had been hacked and at least 50 million user accounts were compromised. In June, California passed legislation that — if it is enacted as written — would go even farther, allowing users to sue for damages for exactly the kind of data breach Facebook suffered. "They don't want to entertain the possibility that they would liable to individuals for doing some sort of harm from all the data that they collect," says Ernesto Falcon, legislative counsel