Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) addresses an audience in Washington, DC. He’s the force behind new legislation targeting social networks | Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Earlier this week, in discussing Facebook’s settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over privacy violations, I lamented that the United States is governing technology platforms through fines rather than laws. Even if settlements like these satiate the public demand for accountability — and it’s not clear that this one will — they change none of the underlying conditions that enable companies to violate our privacy in the first place.
For that, you need laws — and so, let’s check in on three laws now under consideration.
One, today there was a flurry of activity surrounding potential privacy legislation in the Senate. A push for national privacy legislation began after California passed its own privacy law last year, modeled in part…