"I anticipate this will be a major focus during the next Congress," Wicker told me in a statement. To Wyden, a tough law is a matter of national security, and the only way to break the cycle of companies offering insincere "face-saving" exercises instead of meaningful change in the wake of the controversies. One of the key questions following the Times' report on Facebook's data partnerships is whether the company violated a 2011 consent agreement with the Federal Trade Commission, which required Facebook to disclose its data practices more transparently to users. Facebook denies that these partnerships violated the consent decree. The Times reported that four former FTC officials and employees briefed on its findings "said the data-sharing deals likely violated the consent agreement." "Facebook may be in some really hot water here," Wyden said. Wyden's bill aims to give greater powers to the Federal Trade Commission, which seems to sorely need them.