The fact that they don't give notice is not a violation. And even as government investigators win one battle, new technologies bring new threats. One emerging technology would link wireless devices such as cell phones with satellites that can pinpoint a person's location. Law enforcement officers from several states ultimately want a federal law requiring, at minimum, that sites disclose any information they collect and offer customers the chance to decline such tracking. They also want states to have the authority to prosecute cases under such a federal law, although they are in less agreement over whether legislatures should be able to pass stronger measures for their states.
Businesses prefer one national standard.
A few attorneys general oppose laws entirely, saying they should give businesses time to develop technologies for protecting privacy. Unnecessary laws, they say, could increase costs for consumers. Mallory Duncan, general counsel for the National Retail Federation, said technology had always moved ahead of the law. The advent of photography more than a century ago, for instance, raised new legal questions about whether photographers had a right to capture images without consent. But Michigan Attorney General Jennifer Granholm said computers and the Internet tugged on legal boundaries like nothing before.