Some in Congress are renewing calls for strict federal privacy protections.
“We need a privacy bill of rights, a set of protections that is no less stringent than the people of California enjoy, no less protected than the people of Europe have,” says Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)
Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) also cited both the California
FTC, the De Facto Privacy Regulator.
The Federal Trade “Commission has settled or litigated more than 60 law enforcement actions against businesses that allegedly failed to take reasonable precautions to protect consumers’ data,” said FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Andrew Smith in testimony before a Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Subcommittee.
Cases included:
Competition considerations in how big tech companies handle personal data – the U.S. version.
Bloomberg Law reports that following a number of actions by European Union competition authorities, U.S. antitrust regulators plan to ramp up their scrutiny of tech companies’ data practices, acknowledging rising concerns that consumer information can increase market power.
“The Federal Trade
Changes to the Safeguards Rule and the Privacy Rule applicable to financial institutions under the Gramm Leach Bliley Act are in the works.
The FTC is proposing changes to the Safeguards Rule to add more detailed requirements for what should be included in the comprehensive information security program mandated by the Rule. This will include:
“It is important that organizations have appropriate technical and organisational measures in place. This includes having clear data protection policies, taking a ‘data protection by design and default’ approach and continuing to review and monitor performance and adherence to data protection rules and regulations” – says Adam Stevens, Head of Intelligence at the UK Information
The Federal Trade Commission should be the primary enforcer of a federal privacy bill and to do so would need a larger budget. That is one point that seemed to be in consensus at the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing held on February 27, 2019 in connection with a U.S. Federal privacy
To U.S. Federal Privacy Law or To Not U.S. Federal Privacy Law, that is the question.
At a House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing February 26, industry professionals and advocates made their pitches for what should be contained within a federal privacy bill. The discussion revolved around how prescriptive a federal law should be
The U.S. Government Accountability Office recommends that Congress consider comprehensive federal internet privacy legislation.
Issues that should be considered include:
Will the California Consumer Privacy Act serve as a blueprint for a federal privacy law or for a patchwork quilt of state privacy laws?
As states have been commencing legislative proceedings and as proposals for a federal privacy law are being formulated, the following seem to be principles that most agree should be included in
New Jersey follows in California’s footsteps with legislative initiatives on privacy.
The main proposed law (bill A-4902), will require commercial websites and online service operators to give customers: