MediaBuyerPlanner: At a session at the 2006 DM Days, Emily Hackett, executive director of the Internet Alliance, which tracks state legislative bills affecting direct marketers, said that the fact there were so many data security breach bills introduced and passed in states this year means that a federal bill will likely follow, DMNews reports.

Hackett said there were 168 data security breach bills introduced in 39 states this year following a California data breach law that says marketers must notify customers of security breaches. Nineteen of these bills have been enacted and 14 are pending. In addition, Hackett said that 38 bills in 12 states have been introduced that go beyond the California bill and expand the definition to go beyond computer records to include paper records. Eleven of these bills have been enacted and 12 are pending.