There’s a lot to like about the Senate privacy bill, if it’s not watered down

RichardsNeil Richards, the Koch Distinguished Professor in Law

 

Last week, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), joined by Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), introduced what is probably the most robust U.S. privacy bill in history: the Consumer Online Privacy Rights Act (COPRA). If, like most people, you are concerned about modern threats to your privacy from digital technologies, there is much to like about this bill.

To get a better sense of what COPRA is all about, it’s helpful to think of it as three different kinds of bills rolled into one. As a data protection bill, COPRA incorporates some of the best elements of Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), such as limits on data collection and retention, as well giving people strong rights of access, deletion and correction of their personal information.

As a consumer protection effort, COPRA enhances the structures of consumer protection law by giving more power and resources to our top privacy regulator, the Federal Trade Commission. It also places a duty of loyalty on large technology companies, preventing them from using data to harm their customers; empowers state legislatures and state attorneys general; and gives individuals the right to sue for privacy violations that cause them harm.

Read the full piece in The Hill.

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