Tech companies, embattled over privacy, warm to Federal regulation

Compared with the California law and new privacy rules in the European Union, the new US legislation is likely to be less stringent

US tech companies, battered over their handling of consumers’ personal data, are hoping to get ahead of the public and legal fallout by working with policymakers to help shape potential new federal privacy legislation.

The effort by tech coalitions such as the Information Technology Industry Council—representing internet giants such as Facebook, Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc. unit Google and Salesforce.com —comes after the industry has fended off many types of federal action on privacy for years.

“There’s been such a shift” in industry views “that I really think the time is now,” Karen Zacharia, chief privacy officer at Verizon Communications Inc., said at