Congress could be closer than ever to passing a comprehensive data privacy framework after key House and Senate committee leaders announced new proposals on Sunday.
The bipartisan proposal, called the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA), would limit the type of consumer data that companies can collect, retain and use to only what is necessary to operate their services. Users can also opt out of targeted advertising and can view, correct, delete, and download their data from online services. The proposal would also create a national registry of data brokers and force these companies to allow users to opt out of selling their data.
“This landmark bill gives Americans the right to control where their information goes and who sells it,” House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers said in a statement Sunday. . “This law will rein in Big Tech by prohibiting it from tracking, predicting, or manipulating people’s behavior for profit without their knowledge or consent. They want us to act as their elected representatives.”
For decades, Congress has been trying to craft comprehensive federal legislation to protect user data. But lawmakers have weighed in on whether the law should prevent states from enacting stricter rules and whether it should allow for a “private right of action” that would allow people to sue companies in response to privacy violations. Their opinions remain divided.
In an interview with spokesperson review On Sunday, McMorris Rodgers argued that the draft language is stronger than any current law, apparently in an attempt to allay concerns from Democrats who have long fought attempts to preempt existing state-level protections. . APRA exceptionally allows states to pass their own privacy laws related to civil rights and consumer protection.
Last Congress, leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committees spoke with Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, about state laws other than the California Consumer Privacy Act and the California Consumer Privacy Act. brokered an agreement on a bill preempting the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. The bill, dubbed the American Data Privacy and Protection Act, created a weaker private right of action than most Democrats were willing to support. Cantwell refused to support this bill and circulated his own bill instead. ADPPA has not been reintroduced, but APRA was designed as a compromise.
“I think we've threaded a very important needle here,” Cantwell said. spokesperson review. “We maintain the standards of California, Illinois and Washington.”
APRA includes language in California's landmark privacy law that allows people to sue companies if they are harmed by a data breach. It would also give the Federal Trade Commission, state attorneys general and private citizens the power to sue companies if they violate the law.
According to the Senate Commerce Committee's bill summary, the categories of data affected by APRA include “information that identifies, or is linked to, or can reasonably be linked to, a person or device.” Contains certain categories. APRA exempts small businesses with annual revenues of $40 million or less and limited data collection, and focuses enforcement on businesses with annual revenues of $250 million or more. The bill excludes governments and “entities acting on behalf of governments,” as well as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and non-profit organizations that “fight fraud,” except for certain cybersecurity provisions. be.
U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, called the draft “very strong” in a statement Sunday, but said he wanted to “strengthen” it with stronger child safety provisions. Ta.
Still, it remains unclear whether APRA will get the support it needs for approval. On Sunday, committee aides said discussions were underway about other lawmakers signing the bill. The current proposal is a “draft for discussion”. No formal date has been set for introducing the bill, but Cantwell and McMorris-Rogers will spend the next few weeks reviewing a document soliciting feedback from their colleagues and plan to send it to the committee this month.