Meanwhile, the theft of information about some 40 million credit-card accounts in America, disclosed on June 17th, overshadowed a hugely important decision a day earlier by America’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that puts corporate America on notice that regulators will act if firms fail to provide adequate data security.

　　①The current state of affairs may have been encouraged – though not justified – by the lack of legal penalty (in America, but not Europe) for data leakage. Until California recently passed a law, American firms did not have to tell anyone, even the victim, when data went astray.

　　②That may change fast: lots of proposed data-security legislation is now doing the rounds in Washington, D.C.

　　③Meanwhile, the theft of information about some 40 million credit-card accounts in America, disclosed on June 17th, overshadowed a hugely important decision a day earlier by America’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that puts corporate America on notice that regulators will act if firms fail to provide adequate data security.

　　参考译文

　　①对泄露数据缺乏法律惩罚(这主要指在美国，在欧洲不是这样)，可能是造成目前状况的原因——虽然并不意味着泄露数据合法。直到加利福尼亚州最近通过了一项法律，美国的公司才不得不把数据泄露事件告诉人们——包括受害者。

　　②变化可能会发生得很迅速：围绕数据安全提出的许多立法正在华盛顿展开讨论。

　　③与此同时，6月17日披露的大约4000万个信用卡账户信息被窃事件，使得一天前美国联邦贸易委员会(FTC)的重大决定黯然失色，该决定提醒美国各公司注意，如果公司没有充分保障信息安全，监管机构就会采取行动。