OTI Applauds Senators’ Introduction of Strong Pro-Privacy Data Security Bill

Washington, DC – Today Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Senators Al Franken (D-Minn.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) introduced the Consumer Privacy Protection Act. An outline of the bill can be found here, and text of the legislation is here. OTI welcomes the introduction of this strong pro-privacy data security and breach notification bill.

Among other things, the bill:

• requires companies that hold consumers’ personal information to develop a comprehensive privacy and security plan to protect that information

• protects a broader range of personal information than would be protected by recent data security and breach notification legislative proposals, including geolocation data, login credentials for online accounts, and health information

• creates civil penalties for companies that fail to meet the required consumer privacy and data security standards or fail to notify customers of a breach of covered data

• preempts weaker state laws, but leaves stronger state laws in place

On all of these points, the bill is stronger than other legislative proposals on data security and breach notification, including the Data Security and Breach Notification Act of 2015 introduced in the House, which OTI Senior Policy Counsel Laura Moy testified on last month.

The following can be attributed to Laura Moy, Senior Policy Counsel of New America’s Open Technology Institute:

“We are very pleased to finally see some forward-looking members of Congress introduce a privacy bill that is truly pro-consumer. Recently we have seen too many so-called ‘privacy’ bills that would actually replace strong state-level protections with a weaker national standard. Consumer and privacy advocates have been disappointed by those proposals, and have been very clear that we cannot support legislative proposals that represent a net loss for consumers.

“In contrast, the Consumer Privacy Protection Act introduced today in the Senate would leave consumers across the country better protected than they are currently. The bill’s data security protections, broad range of covered information, and penalty provisions are stronger than any legislative proposal we’ve seen in a long time. Importantly, the Act would also preserve existing data security and breach notification protections for communications customers under the Communications Act—some of the strongest federal protections we have on the books. We appreciate the work of Senator Leahy and the five other sponsors of this bill to promote a sensible and strong approach to protecting the privacy and security of all consumers, and look forward to working with them as this bill moves forward.”