U.S. Data Privacy Laws

Despite numerous proposals over the years, no one comprehensive federal law governs data privacy in the U.S. yet. As of this writing, the American Privacy Rights Act has been introduced in Congress. It still faces significant hurdles before it can ultimately be enacted into law, however.

In the meantime, however, individual states have acted rather than wait on the federal government. There's a complex patchwork of sector-specific and medium-specific laws, including laws and regulations that address telecommunications, health information, credit information, financial institutions, and marketing.