来源：《华盛顿邮报》
原文刊登日期：2021年5月8日
Congress ran out of excuses for its inability to pass a privacy law years ago. Now, some of its members are promising they’ll finally do their jobs — just give them another year and a half.
多年前，国会就已经没有任何借口来解释其未能通过隐私法的原因了。现在，一些国会议员承诺，他们将最终完成这项工作——只要再给他们一年半的时间。
The quest for federal rules to govern companies that deal in citizens’ personal information has delivered nothing but disappointments. Nonetheless, a commitment last week by key legislators to get comprehensive regulations on the books by the end of 2022, even if doing so requires some compromise, is promising. Representatives Jan Schakowsky and Gus M. Bilirakis and Senator Richard Blumenthal, all chairs or ranking members of relevant subcommittees in their chambers, agreed in a public event on Wednesday that it’s past time to overcome the annoying points of impasse that have doomed past proposals.
寻求联邦法规来管理经营公民个人信息的公司的努力只带来了失望。尽管如此，一些重要议员上周承诺，要在2022年底前将全面的监管规定写入法律，尽管这需要一些妥协，但这是有希望的。众议员简·沙考斯基、格斯·m·比利拉基斯和参议员理查德·布卢门萨尔都是各自议院相关小组委员会的主席或高级成员。他们在周三的一场公开活动中一致认为，早就该克服令人恼火的使以前的提案注定失败的僵局了。
The pressure is on. California approved a new privacy law in November; Virginia passed its own in March. The Federal Trade Commission has gotten restless, with a bipartisan duo of commissioners in particular agitating to exercise a little-used authority to make rules. The process would be hard, and far from ideal — which is all the more reason for Congress to act so that others stop acting for it. Another reality that makes this move a no-brainer: the surprising degree of consensus around not only the general necessity of nationwide data protections but also the particulars.
压力在增加。加州去年11月批准了一项新的隐私法；弗吉尼亚州三月份通过了自己的法案。联邦贸易委员会已经焦躁不安，尤其是两党联合的两名委员鼓动行使一项很少使用的权力来制定法规。这个过程将是艰难的，而且远非理想——这就是国会立法的更充分理由，以便让其他部门停止为保护隐私立法。另一个让这一举措变得显而易见的现实是：议员们对全美范围内数据保护的普遍必要性和具体细节都达成了惊人的共识。
Indeed, from rights for consumers to access, correct and delete data to obligations for companies to exercise some duty of care or loyalty with the data they collect, members of Congress have shown that they share similar aims.
事实上，从消费者有权访问、更正和删除数据，到企业有义务对所收集的数据履行一定的注意义务或忠诚，国会议员已经表明，他们有着相似的目标。
More contentious all along have been the topics of preemption. Mr. Blumenthal on Wednesday signaled a possible breakthrough: A strong federal standard, he said, would be preferable to a patchwork of state standards — but a patchwork of state standards would be preferable to a weak federal standard. The best solution is probably a form of preemption that overrides only state laws inconsistent with the federal rules, and allows others to stand.
更有争议的一直是联邦法优先的话题。布卢门撒尔周三暗示了一个可能的突破：他说，一个强有力的联邦标准会比各州标准的拼凑更好，但拼凑的各州标准会比一个软弱的联邦标准更好。最好的解决办法可能是这样一种联邦法优先的形式，即联邦法规只推翻与其不一致的州法规，允许其他州法规有效力。
Congress’s aim to do by the end of 2022 what it should have done as long ago as 2012 may be described as unambitious; more generously, it could be described as realistic. Another failure to deliver, however, would surely be embarrassing.
国会的目标是在2022年底完成它早在2012年就应该完成的工作，这可能被形容为无抱负；更宽容地说，这可以被描述为实事求是。然而，再一次未能兑现承诺肯定会令人尴尬。