House GOP members released a draft privacy law this week that would create a nationwide privacy standard to guard internet users’ personal details and data by forming a new bureau inside the Federal Trade Commission.
House Energy and Commerce GOP members’ new Control our Data bill calls for the formation of a Consumer Privacy and Data Security Bureau inside the trade commission that would be filled with around 250 people, including five psychologists and 25 technology experts, to help deal with privacy- and data topics primarily with Big Tech platforms like Google, Facebook and TikTok.
Many tech giants have been slammed for their controversial data techniques and gathering practices that usually secretly infringe on a users’ privacy.
Both parties seem to support creating a national privacy standard and keeping Big Tech companies accountable for gathering and using the data they collect.
“This national standard will give clear rules and give Americans the same data safeguards wherever they go,” Congresswoman Cathy Rodgers, the top GOP member on the committee, revealed in a comment. “Privacy does not stop at state boundaries and Americans should get more than a patchwork of conflicting state laws.”
The law’s proposed bureau inside the FTC would also have two psychologists at least who have experience “in teens and children,” a provision that reflects recent controversies concerning teenagers’ mental health and social media that targets young users that Frances Haugen, a Facebook whistleblower, and her internal documents stressed in recent weeks.
Both parties agreed to the trade commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, which deals with privacy-related topics, is very understaffed, especially when compared to other nations.
Democrats on this committee have already submitted laws for a new bureau for privacy inside the FTC in their partisan infrastructure spending program, but the GOP criticized the proposal for being too partisan and broad, and possibly wasteful.
The GOP bill would also award the trade commission new ability to fine tech companies that unfairly get and make use of user data up to $100,000 for each violation on the first offense.
However, the bill does not allow users to sue these tech companies for grievances, much like the Senate GOP’s privacy bill, the SAFE DATA Act.
Author: Blake Ambrose
