US data privacy legislation drafted

The American Privacy Rights Act, proposed by Senate commerce committee chair Maria Cantwell and House energy and commerce committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, would grant consumers new rights regarding how their personal information is used and moved around by companies and data brokers.

The new legislation would also give individuals the ability to sue ‘bad actors’ when those rights are violated.

The Act sets one national standard for data privacy, which would eliminate the patchwork of existing state laws.

The bill will need to be introduced into both chambers and advanced by each committee before it has a chance of being passed into law.

Chair Rodgers and Cantwell said: “This bipartisan, bicameral draft legislation is the best opportunity we’ve had in decades to establish a national data privacy and security standard that gives people the right to control their personal information.

“This landmark legislation represents the sum of years of good faith efforts in both the House and Senate. It strikes a meaningful balance on issues that are critical to moving comprehensive data privacy legislation through Congress. Americans deserve the right to control their data and we’re hopeful that our colleagues in the House and Senate will join us in getting this legislation signed into law.”

Under the draft proposal, conducting market research would be considered a permitted purpose for collecting, processing, retaining or transferring data, as would de-identifying data for use in product improvement and research.

Howard Fienberg, senior vice-president, advocacy, at the Insights Association, said: “The Insights Association and the US insights industry support comprehensive federal privacy legislation that would provide strong protection for all American consumers.

“To fundamentally advance the way consumer privacy and data security are protected, a national privacy bill needs to replace the current conflicting patchwork of 15+ state privacy laws and raise the bar for consumer welfare, while allowing for the continued benefits of insights and analytics to flow to all consumers and the broader economy.”

Fienberg added: “We appreciate this proposal for specifically designating market research as a permissible purpose, among other positive points. As we continue to review this lengthy draft, we will share our analyses with IA members, and help Senators and Representatives of all parties to understand and address our various concerns with the bill language.”