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The insights industry began the first month of 2025 with an eye on a comprehensive federal privacy law, the potential organizing of research subjects into labor unions, legal guidance on artificial intelligence in Oregon, and how insights firms should respond to legal subpoenas for research-related information.

While northerly climes were frosting over at the tail end of 2024, the Insights Association took a sharp look at the prior year in tax policy, privacy and artificial intelligence, while scoping out President Trump’s new Administration. We also covered an array of privacy, data security, telephone and other legislation and regulatory moves impacting the insights industry in December.

As leaves accumulated and election season reached a crescendo, the Insights Association welcomed the advancement of a helpful kids’ privacy bill in Congress, dug into yet more new state privacy laws, advocated on census funding and policy concerns, and feasted on other policy issues of interest to the insights industry.

Spooky season is here, but thanks to the Insights Association the insights industry had the upper hand on the legislative and legal ghouls and goblins in October as we tackled bills and laws on privacy, data security, artificial intelligence, and more.

Cool winds are blowing through DC and the state capitols, but the action in September remained hot on multiple policy fronts of interest to the insights industry. The Insights Association helped to snag wins against a tax on advertising research and a requirement for opt out preference signals, while also delving into pending legislation and new state and federal laws in data privacy, advancing legislation on artificial intelligence, new guidance for insights professionals using synthetic resear...

Summer may be winding down, but public policy disputes impacting the insights industry continued apace in August, including: new state privacy laws; new laws and guidance on artificial intelligence; and a key court decision on non-compete agreements in employment contracts. The Insights Association also managed a win on kids’ privacy legislation in the U.S. Senate and led the charge against a legislative proposal that would ruin the decennial Census and the American Community Survey (ACS).

Despite all the political turmoil in the U.S., the Insights Association remained focused on advocacy on our bread-and-butter policy issues in July, including heated fights over census funding, delays in federal noncompete rules, proposed portable benefits for independent contractors (that could include research subjects), more AI legislation, and a win on some IA-supported legislation in Congress.

The heat was rising on legislative, regulatory and compliance issues for the insights industry in June, as the Insights Association focused on: federal privacy legislation; pending compliance hurdles as new state and federal laws took effect; a new AI law in Colorado; and a federal bill that would require tax withholding for research subjects receiving participant incentives.

With summer almost upon us, the Insights Association focused this month on a new U.S. law prohibiting many data transfers to China and vaguely-Chinese-owned companies, federal minors’ privacy bills, more AI legislation, and how insights employers can comply with the new FTC rule banning non-compete agreements in employment contracts, among other policy issues.

The first full month of spring brought with it a shiny new federal privacy bill, some developments on AI regulation, a tax win in Nebraska, a new federal ban on noncompetes, advances in preventing the government from competing with the insights industry, legislation moving in Minnesota on exit polling and political opinion research, complicated business payment disputes, and some new developments on competitive sourcing of insights services and the Census Household Panel.