A new national data privacy bill aims to give American citizens enforceable data privacy rights at a federal level, eliminating the patchwork of state laws that are currently in place.The American Privacy Rights Act was announced Sunday by House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA). The draft bill would put people in control of their own personal data and minimize the data that companies can collect, keep, or use about people of any age beyond what is needed to provide them services.The bill would also give Americans control over where their personal information goes, as well as give them the ability to prevent the transfer or sale of their data. Individuals would also be able to opt out of data processing if a company changes its privacy policy after someone has given it their data.Additionally, the legislation requires stricter protections for sensitive data by providing express consent from an individual before it is transferred to a third party. Companies would also be required to let people access, correct, delete, and export their data as well as opt out of targeted advertising.“It reins in Big Tech by prohibiting them from tracking, predicting, and manipulating people’s behaviors for profit without their knowledge and consent. Americans overwhelmingly want these rights, and they are looking to us, their elected representatives, to act,” Sen. Rodgers says.
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The bill is similar to a since-stalled version of the bill Rodgers and Cantrell introduced in 2022.
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