As the federal government begins to take on key issues like encryption, and cybersecurity legislation, some are arguing that states and local authorities are in the best position to handle cyber-related issues and that federal legislation may hamper such abilities.
Some officials, like Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen, argue that state and local governments are more “nimble” and can react more quickly to data breaches, while the federal government is more likely implement “technocratic, top-down regulatory approaches to dealing with these problems.”
Earlier in July, 47 state attorney generals signed and sent a letter to Congress asking for the federal government to “not preempt the power of states to enact and enforce state security breach notification. Preemption interferes with state legislatures’ democratic role as laboratories of innovation. The states have been able to respond more quickly to concerns about privacy and identity theft involving personal information, and have enacted laws in these areas years before the federal government.”
Check out the full Watchdog article.