It feels a little like déjà vu, but this week we discuss the US's newest, best candidate for a federal privacy law - the American Privacy Rights Act. With bipartisan and bicameral support for the draft law the mood is cautiously optimistic, though there's a very long way to go.

We'll discuss what Australia can learn from the more novel elements of the proposed new law, and we'll explore how the growing policy focus on managing online harms is driving recognition of the need for strong privacy regulation, and we'll unpack how the issue of pre-emption (or overriding of state privacy laws) can be both the biggest driver and the biggest challenge for the bill.

Links

A good overview of the American Privacy Rights Act (TechPolicy.Press) https://www.techpolicy.press/the-american-privacy-rights-act-of-2024-explained-what-does-the-proposed-legislation-say-and-what-will-it-do/

Summary and comparison to the 2022 privacy bill from a pro innovation think tank (ITIF) https://itif.org/publications/2024/04/10/privacy-bill-faceoff-comparing-the-apra-and-adppa/

Electronic Frontier Foundation's assessment (EFF) https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/04/americans-deserve-more-current-american-privacy-rights-act

A list of the very many sectoral privacy laws in the US (EPIC) https://epic.org/issues/privacy-laws/united-states/

US State Privacy Law Tracker (IAPP) https://iapp.org/resources/article/us-state-privacy-legislation-tracker/

Credits:

Editing and post-production by Martin Franklin (East Coast Studio) eastcoaststudio.com.au

Music by Bensound.com