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posted by takyon on Friday November 02 2018, @11:44PM   Printer-friendly
from the too-big-to-jail dept.

Submitted via IRC for chromas

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.

Also at ZDNet, and The Hill.


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Sulla on Saturday November 03 2018, @06:46AM (2 children)

    by Sulla (5173) on Saturday November 03 2018, @06:46AM (#757210) Journal

    Sarbanes-Oxley tried to put penaltys in place that would effect the CEO in the case of CEO wrongdoing. All it did was turn CEO into a figurehead fallguy in many situations and shift power into other positions not accountable under SOX.

    I will suggest something radically different. Corporate prison.

    Assumptions
    >Corporations are people
    >People equal men
    >All men should be equal under the law

    So lets say BP fucked up an oil well, didnt do a fast enough response, caused severe damage, and wasnt able to pay for the damage they caused.

    Punishment
    >Corporate bank accounts are frozen
    >Liabilities are frozen (no obligation to pay while in "prison" )
    >No cash or asset inflows or transfers allowed (debts owed to them are frozen)
    >CEOs and Board are not able to work at any other firm

    You want responsibility then you gotta fuck em. Im okay with a high burden of proof. But this would be useful in the case of superfunds/etc.

    --
    Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday November 03 2018, @11:49AM (1 child)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday November 03 2018, @11:49AM (#757250) Journal
    On the punishment, do we do those things for normal people? I don't think so. And I can see this as a nasty trick for a business to pull to evade bankruptcy. You get to play with the assets of the company unimpeded until it escapes jail.
    • (Score: 5, Informative) by hemocyanin on Saturday November 03 2018, @03:13PM

      by hemocyanin (186) on Saturday November 03 2018, @03:13PM (#757296) Journal

      Are you kidding? People go to prison for frauds like identity theft. Frauds like the financial meltdown result in bonuses.