Similar bills are pending in the House and a few states have begun regulating data brokers, though most of the state laws have yet to be tested.
Police say many data quality problems that plague databases of both private aggregators and law enforcement are human in origin. Financial industry lobbyists are swarming over the Hill pushing for a federal statute that would undermine the toughest of the state laws. But Congress is also under pressure from consumer organizations who have pledged to expose any watering-down of basic protections to make life easier for big-bucks contributors. Watch outtakes of the interview with Condoleezza Rice.