Senator Proposes Data Privacy Bill with Serious Punishments
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
On Thursday, Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, proposed legislation he said would bring meaningful punishments for companies that violate people's data privacy, including larger fines and potential jail time for CEOs.
[...] The Mind Your Business Act is an update to Wyden's Consumer Data Protection Act, which he proposed last November. The lawmaker said he spent the past year listening to privacy experts on what to add to the original proposal.
The new bill allows for state attorneys general to enforce the data privacy regulations and allows for privacy watchdogs to sue companies on behalf of people affected by data violations. It also imposes tax penalties on companies when their CEOs lie about privacy practices, which would be based on the executive's salary.
[...] Several lawmakers have proposed their own data privacy bills, though there haven't been any clear front-runners. Tech giants like Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook have also called for a data privacy law, though critics argue that these pushes are specifically to weaken strong state legislation already in place.
[...] Wyden is also looking to create a national Do Not Track system in which people can opt-out of targeted advertising and having their data sold and shared by tech companies. People would also be able to review what data a tech company has collected on them and who it's shared with.
"It is based on three basic ideas: Consumers must be able to control their own private information, companies must provide vastly more transparency about how they use and share our data; and corporate executives need to be held personally responsible when they lie about protecting our personal information," Wyden said.
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