UPDATED 22:04 EDT / JULY 20 2022

POLICY

House panel votes to pass landmark privacy bill

A 53-2 bipartisan vote today means a privacy bill that could change how tech companies deal with users’ data in the U.S. is closer to coming to fruition.

Democrats and Republicans in the House Energy and Commerce Committee greenlit the American Data Privacy and Protection Act in what is being called a giant leap for the U.S. regarding data privacy. If passed, the ADPPA could mean states’ own privacy laws can be bypassed, with some legislators expressing concern regarding how this might undermine privacy laws in place.

The law will give consumers protections if tech companies are found to have discriminated against them, something that Democrats have long sought. It will give consumers more choice about what data is collected from them, forcing tech companies to be more transparent in this regard.

Consumers will be given the legal right to have that data deleted, and if things don’t go as they want, they’ll be empowered to take companies to court. The bill wants to prevent firms from collecting data from anyone under the age of 17 and, in general, will urge companies not to collect any data outside of their products or services.

Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-New Jersey) voted against an amendment to the bill that would have allowed states to go even further. “Basically, what this amendment would do would reject all of the efforts to come to a compromise by replacing carefully crafted preemption provisions, mindful of some of the states, with a provision that would not set a true federal standard,” he said. The two that voted against the bill, both Democrats from California, said they don’t want to see state laws being overridden, which the rest of the lawmakers see as necessary.

“The American Data Privacy and Protection Act’s national standard is stronger than any state privacy law,” Cathy Anne McMorris Rodgers wrote in a statement. “It prohibits Big Tech from tracking and exploiting people’s sensitive information for profit without their consent, protects kids, and ensures small businesses can innovate.”

Image: ttarasiuk/Flickr

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