Over the course of the 20th century, the Privacy Act was joined by more privacy rules for fields including healthcare, websites for children, electronic communications, and even video cassette rentals. Attempts to rein in government spying — like proposed updates to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 — have been sandbagged by fears they’d compromise police and anti-terrorism operations. Data breaches at major tech companies are common, and security regulations meant to prevent them are being rolled back. What happens nextAs of early 2026, in many places, a sense of learned helplessness around privacy has taken hold. It’s one thing to know the government could look up personal information about you.