Tech Issues Seen Changing How AGs Approach Antitrust
State attorneys general have more than a century of experience in antitrust enforcement, but the model of state AG engagement is changing due to tech issues such as data protection and privacy, Nebraska AG Doug Peterson said Monday at Technology…
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Policy Institute's Aspen Institute in Aspen, Colorado. Colorado AG Phil Weiser said states in recent years have become more active in tech regulation since the federal government has been less able to act. He said states, starting with tobacco issues in the 1990s, have built the capacity to work on a multi-state basis, while Congress is decreasingly able to deal with issues like privacy rights. "The states are where the action is," he said. Peterson said, unlike the multistate complaint against Microsoft that ultimately ended with a settlement negotiated by DOJ, the states in their Google suit have acted to maintain independence, such as retaining their own experts. Weiser said enforcement of Colorado's privacy law will focus on willfully noncompliant actors. He said if federal privacy legislation preempts Colorado's, that wouldn't be a problem as long as state AG's have the power to enforce the federal law, akin to the power they have to enforce Dodd-Frank. Peterson said privacy legislation hasn't been passed in Nebraska, but it's not from lack of interest or concern by lawmakers. He said the state might take the approach of watching how approaches such as Colorado's play out at the state level.