"They're people that are clearly committed to legislation," he said. "A lot of them put their necks out to support it at a time when it would not be as popular as it would be right now."

One academic who follows the topic said it's significant that the industry has agreed in principle that there should be some sort of baseline privacy law.

"That's interesting, because prior to 2006 these groups were pumping money into the libertarian machine, and now the tune is a bit different and more open to different options," Chris Hoofnagle, director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology's information privacy programs, said via e-mail.