Congress may be closer than ever to passing a comprehensive data privacy framework after leaders of key House and Senate committees released a new proposal Sunday.
The bipartisan proposal, called the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA), would limit the types of consumer data companies can collect, retain and use that they need to operate their services. Users can also opt out of targeted advertising and be able to view, correct, delete and download data from online services. The proposal would also create a national data broker registry and force the companies to allow users to opt out of the sale of their data.
“This landmark legislation gives Americans control over where their information goes and who can sell it,” House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers said in a statement Sunday. rights.” “It controls big tech companies by prohibiting them from tracking, predicting, and manipulating people’s behavior for profit without their knowledge and consent. The vast majority of Americans want these rights, and they expect us , their elected representatives take action.”
For decades, Congress has been trying to enact a comprehensive federal law to protect user data. Still, lawmakers remain divided over whether the legislation should prevent states from issuing stricter rules and allow for a “private right of action” that would allow people to sue companies for privacy violations.
during an interview spokesman’s comment On Sunday, McMorris Rodgers claimed the draft’s language was stronger than any existing law, seemingly in an effort to assuage the concerns of Democrats, who have long opposed attempts to preempt existing state-level protections. Among other exceptions, APRA does allow states to pass their own privacy laws related to civil rights and consumer protection.
During the last congressional session, leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee reached an agreement with Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, on a bill that would preempt state laws (Calif. Privacy Act and Consumer Privacy Act). Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. The measure, called the U.S. Data Privacy and Protection Act, also creates a weaker private right of action than most Democrats are willing to support. Cantwell declined to support the measure, instead circulating her own draft legislation. ADPPA has not yet been reintroduced, but APRA was designed as a compromise.
“I think we’ve threaded a very important needle here,” Cantwell told reporters spokesman’s comment. “We’re keeping the California, Illinois and Washington state standards.”
APRA includes provisions from California’s landmark privacy law that allow people to sue companies if they are harmed by a data breach. It also gives the Federal Trade Commission, state attorneys general and citizens the power to sue companies when they break the law.
According to the Senate Commerce Committee’s summary of the legislation, the categories of data that would be affected by APRA include certain categories of “information that identifies or links or is reasonably linked to a person or device.” Small businesses (those with annual revenues of $40 million or less and limited data collection) will be exempted under APRA, with enforcement focused on businesses with annual revenues of $250 million or more. Governments and “entities working on behalf of governments” are excluded from the bill, as are the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and “anti-fraud” nonprofits except for certain cybersecurity provisions.
U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, called the draft “very strong” in a statement on Sunday but said he wanted to “strengthen” it with tougher child safety provisions. .
However, it is unclear whether APRA will receive the support needed for approval. On Sunday, Committee Aid said conversations were ongoing about other lawmakers signing on to the legislation. The current proposal is a “discussion draft”; while there is no official date for the bill to be introduced, Cantwell and McMorris-Rogers will likely solicit feedback from colleagues in the coming weeks and plan to send it to committee this month .