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This last try Creating the first sweeping national data privacy law in the United States leads to the typical nonsense in Washington. But from the turmoil in Congress and elsewhere in the US, we are seeing progress in finally protecting Americans from the limitless information-gathering economy.

What has emerged is a growing consensus and a set of (flawed) laws that give people fact-checking and companies more responsibility to tame the nearly unlimited harvest of data. All the bickering, shabby lobbying tactics and blockage, it may not seem like a close win. But this.

Let me zoom out the big picture, which at US Tech companies like Facebook and Google, mostly unknown data intermediaries, and even the local supermarket, are collecting any kind of data that can help their business.

We take advantage of this system in some ways, including by helping businesses find customers more efficiently through targeted advertising. However, with so much information on almost everyone, with very few restrictions on its use, terms of abuse. It also contributes to public distrust of technology and technology companies. Even some companies that benefited from unlimited data collection now say the system needs reform.

Smarter policy and enforcement is part of the answer, but there are no quick fixes – and there will be downsides. Some consumer privacy advocates have said for years that Americans need a federal data privacy law that protects them no matter where they live. Congress members have discussedhowever, such a law has not passed in the past few years.

Now the strange thing is that big corporations, policy makers on both sides, and privacy-conscious seem to agree that a national privacy law is acceptable. But their motivations and visions for such a law differ. This is where it gets annoying.

A consortium of corporate and technology trade groups started marketing campaign Recently this requires a federal privacy act – but only under very specific circumstances, to minimize disruption to their business.

any federal law override stronger state privacy laws, so businesses can follow a single guide instead of dozens of potentially conflicting guides. Businesses can also hope that a law passed by Congress is less offensive to the Federal Trade Commission than anything else. who now have a Democratic majorityimplements.

This is one of those legal battles that is inappropriate to watch from the outside and has long angered consumer privacy advocates. Evan Greer, director of digital rights group Fight for the Future, said he sees what corporate lobbyists support as “watered down, industry-friendly laws that only in name offer privacy.”

Behind the mud, there’s still emerging Agree on many key elements of a federal privacy law. Even the biggest points of disagreement, such as whether a federal law should override stronger state laws and whether individuals should be sued for privacy violations, now seem to have viable middle ground. One possibility is that federal law will override all future state laws, but not existing ones. And people can be given the right to sue for privacy violations under limited conditionsincluding repeated violations.

Laws are no panacea for our digital privacy mess. Even smart public policies make unwelcome compromises, and sometimes poorly designed or poorly enforced laws make things worse. Sometimes new laws may seem meaningless.

Most people’s experience in Europe comprehensive 2018 digital privacy regulationThe General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR are annoying pop-up notifications about data tracking cookies. first of the two California’s digital privacy provisions in theory it gives people control over how their data is used, but in practice it usually includes: filling out grueling forms. And the latest data privacy laws in Virginia and Utah mostly gave industry groups what they wanted.

Is there any progress in protecting our data? A little, yes!

Some privacy advocates may disagree, but even flawed laws and a shifting mindset between the public and policymakers are big changes. They show that the defaults of America’s data collection system have been dissolved and that more responsibility falls on companies that collect data, not individuals, to protect our rights.

“Progress is like laws that aren’t entirely perfect; there is no such thing. “It seems to be sleeping and starting,” said Gennie Gebhart, director of activism for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy advocacy group.

I don’t know if there will be a federal privacy law. lock rules, and such an arrangement is misleading. But behind the lobbying and indecision, the terms of the debate over data privacy have changed.

Before you go …

• Losses in cryptocurrencies: As my colleague David Yaffe-Bellany tells me, the prices of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are falling steadily. Cryptocurrencies increasingly look like risky tech stocks.

  Also, the TerraUSD virtual currency is supposed to be worth $1 each, and it fell well below that level. That’s why it’s so importantFrom my colleagues at DealBook.

• Local florist now offers for Amazon: To speed up deliveries in rural areas of the US, Amazon is trying to pay small businesses a few dollars per package to get orders to nearby homes, Recode reported.

• Instagram believed a new dad was dealing with “injury” and “fear”. A Washington Post columnist explores why disturbing images are disrupting her newborn’s Instagram feed and advocates for a way to do it. reset social media algorithms when they don’t work for us. (Subscription may be required.)

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