The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a tech policy think tank supported by Google, Amazon and Facebook, proposed a “grand bargain” with lawmakers on key legal concerns in the industry, like the need for more transparency and the requirement that users opt in to having their personal data collected. The foundation argues that instead of every state having a different law about notifying users after a data breach, there should be a single standard. The “bargain” would prevent states from making their own laws, like California’s new privacy act, and repeal other existing federal privacy legislation, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which lays out requirements on companies that collect data from children under 13 years of age. (The Verge)

Talking point: ITIF argues that having a “patchwork” of privacy legislation stifles innovation and increases the prices that consumers pay. Facebook and Google are among companies who’ve been sued multiple times for violating COPPA; it’s also why only people over the age of 13 can sign up for many web services. Democratic senators think the proposal is self-serving. Senator Richard Blumenthal said, “This proposal would protect no one—it is only a grand bargain for the companies who regularly exploit consumer data for private gain and seek to evade transparency and accountability.”