A Perilous Patchwork: Data Privacy and Civil Liability in the Era of the Data Breach

Associate Alessandra Swanson authored this report in conjunction with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform’s 16th Annual Legal Reform Summit. The report was featured in the National Law Journal and on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s website. 

After a data breach, companies are often accused of having failed to adequately protect their customers’ information, with that failure—so the argument goes—having led to the breach. Who brings these allegations? Many may think that they are brought by “the government.” However, there is no single agency in the United States charged with enforcing data protection. Instead, there is a patchwork of regulatory agencies that handle these issues, depending on both the nature of the company’s business and the activities in which it engages.

View the report.