America desperately needs new privacy laws
America desperately needs new privacy laws
https://www.theverge.com/column/882516/privacy-laws-america
Publish Date: 2026-02-22 08:00:00
Source Domain: www.theverge.com
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In 1973, long before the modern digital era, the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) published a report called “Records, Computers, and the Rights of Citizens.” Networked computers seemed “destined to become the principal medium for making, storing, and using records about people,” the report’s foreword began. These systems could be a “powerful management tool.” But with few legal safeguards, they could erode the basic human right to privacy — particularly “control by an individual over the uses made of information about him.”
These concerns weren’t just cheap talk in Washington. In 1974, Congress passed the Privacy Act, which set some of the first rules aimed at computerized records systems — limiting when government agencies could share information and outlining what access individuals should have. Over the course of the 20th century, the Privacy Act was joined by more privacy rules for fields including healthcare, websites for children, electronic communications, and even video cassette rentals. But over the past couple of decades, amid an explosion in digital surveillance by governments and private companies, Congress has repeatedly failed to keep up.
Lawmakers have weighed numerous plans for preserving Americans’ privacy, yet over and over, they’ve fizzled. Attempts to rein in government spying — like proposed updates to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 — have been sandbagged by fears they’d compromise police and anti-terrorism operations. Despite multiple concerted attempts from members of both parties, Congress hasn’t passed a bill that governs how private companies collect data and what rights people have over their own information….
