Notwithstanding potential changes to privacy regulation at the federal level, state attorneys general (AGs) will continue to be robust and influential privacy policymakers and enforcers in the United States – that was the key takeaway of an interview by University of Maryland Law Professor Danielle Citron of Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen at the IAPP Privacy Bar Section Forum today in Washington, D.C.

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Citron’s scholarship has focused on privacy and the key role of the states, culminating in a law review article, THE PRIVACY POLICYMAKING OF STATE ATTORNEYS GENERAL, published this past December in the Notre Dame Law Review. She interviewed Jepsen, and many other AGs, for her article, and the two discussed her findings and recommendations to a sold-out crowd of the IAPP Privacy Bar Section. 

Jepsen, who is one of the most influential AGs in the area of privacy, described the evolution of the issue of privacy to his office and to other AGs. He also set forth the privacy enforcement priorities of his staff, and the utility and dynamics of multi-state investigations and joint state-federal investigations in the area of privacy, and in other consumer protection areas.

The clear message to the attendees is that AGs are potent in the area of privacy, and will continue to be, notwithstanding changes in regulators and regulatory tools at the federal level, including at the FTC and FCC.

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