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Sen. Ron Wyden Introduces Bill That Would Send CEOs to Jail for Violating Consumer Privacy
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has introduced a comprehensive new privacy bill he claims will finally address the lack of meaningful privacy protections for American consumers.
Wyden says his Consumer Data Protection Act is a direct response to the ocean of privacy scandals that have plagued the internet for the better part of the last decade.
The Senator's proposal would dramatically beef up Federal Trade Commission authority and funding to crack down on privacy violations, let consumers opt out of having their sensitive personal data collected and sold, and impose harsh new penalties on a massive data monetization industry that has for years claimed that self-regulation is all that's necessary to protect consumer privacy.
Wyden's bill proposes that companies whose revenue exceeds $1 billion per year—or warehouse data on more than 50 million consumers or consumer devices—submit "annual data protection reports" to the government detailing all steps taken to protect the security and privacy of consumers' personal information.
The proposed legislation would also levy penalties up to 20 years in prison and $5 million in fines for executives who knowingly mislead the FTC in these reports. The FTC's authority over such matters is currently limited—one of the reasons telecom giants have been eager to move oversight of their industry from the Federal Communications Commission to the FTC.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Friday November 02 2018, @11:58PM (4 children)
At this point in time, the bill is useless. The court fool who appointed Ajit Pai to the FCC would veto anything like this, if it made it to his desk. That's assuming, of course, that enough of our congress critters could even agree to anything resembling consumer protection.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by hemocyanin on Saturday November 03 2018, @01:41AM
As per usual, politicians only introduce people-friendly legislation when it has a snowball's chance. I know that Wyden made a bit of a name for himself with Clapper, but what really came of that? Nothing of course because doing anything real about the 4th Amendment would help people.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 03 2018, @02:11AM (1 child)
It's still election season. Pure show, especially when it comes to civil rights. Fuckin' democrats drove that car off the bridge back in '68!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 03 2018, @08:17PM
Flamebait, eh? The moderator must be a democrat. Sorry, pal, you gotta light a fire under peoples' asses to get them to vote these GOP/DNC bastards out!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 03 2018, @10:17PM
Don't be too sure. If the Feds enact a (probably weak) law to regulate consumer privacy, states could be preempted from enacting their own (possibly stricter) laws.