Mounting concerns regarding the operations of major data brokers in the U.S. have prompted House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodger, R-Wash., and Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., to introduce the American Privacy Rights Act that would regulate data collection, security, and sharing practices of such entities, CyberScoop reports.
Aside from being banned from engaging in advertising, identity fraud, and unfair business practices using the obtained information, data brokers would also be required to better detail their business models on their websites in a bid to bolster transparency, as well as better emphasize consumer opt-outs for data collection, according to the legislation. Moreover, the Federal Trade Commission would be tasked to establish a publicly available registry for data brokers with information from over 5,000 people.
Such a bill has been noted to be lacking by Duke University's Justin Sherman, who noted that requiring the deletion of already collected data belonging to consumers who have opted out would have better regulated the data broker sector.
