Articles

March blew in like a lion for the insights industry, but it shows no signs of leaving like a lamb, as the Insights Association grappled with lots of advocacy issues, including: complicated new prohibitions on data sharing with certain foreign countries (and companies controlled by them); a new FTC nominee; worrisome tax bills in Maryland; a California bill to restrict artificial intelligence in interactions with research subjects; a new U.S. Labor Secretary potentially hostile to treating resear...

The U.S. Senate approved the nomination of former Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer on March 10, 2025 to be Secretary of the Department of Labor, potentially complicating the insights industry’s ability to provide incentives to research subjects who participate in market research studies.

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.

A new policy statement from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) encourages organizing of independent contractors into labor unions, just like employees, and would include research subjects who receive any form of incentive for participating in market research studies.

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.

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.

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.

In response to a request for information from a Senate committee leader, the Insights Association, the leading nonprofit association for the insights industry, urged that any potential regime of portable benefits for independent contractors should not apply to research subjects.

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.

President Joe Biden’s recent State of the Union Address to Congress touched on a few policy areas of concern to the insights industry, including privacy, artificial intelligence (AI) and research subjects who receive incentives.