Another Year Wasted for U.S. Federal Data Privacy Legislation

As the rest of the world continues to move forward with national data privacy legislation, the United States continues its well-established habit of proposing piecemeal data privacy laws that go nowhere. It is privacy virtue signaling at its best.

Selected Legislation

Stop Spying Bosses Act & No Robot Bosses Act

My personal favorite is legislation sponsored by Senator Robert Casey, Jr. (D-Pa.) the Stop Spying Bosses Act and the No Robot Bosses Act.

The Stop Spying Bosses Act prohibits or requires the disclosure of surveillance, monitoring and collection of certain worker data by employers who employ 11 or more covered individuals. The No Robot Bosses Act prohibits employers from relying exclusively on automated decision making systems to make decisions regarding employment. Is it safe to say Senator Casey does not trust employers?

DELETE Act

The award for the legislation title with the best acronym goes to Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Representative Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) for sponsoring the Data Elimination and Limiting Extensive Tracking and Exchange Act.

This Act establishes a centralized system allowing individuals to request deletion of their personal information from data brokers. You may have noticed the acronym for the Act is DELETE.

DATA Privacy Act

Second place for legislation with a useful acronym goes to Senator Catherine Cortey Masto (D-Nev.) for the Digital Accountability and Transparency to Advance Privacy Act, or the DATA Privacy Act

Of course the DATA Privacy Act is nothing new, having been previously introduced by Senator Masto in 2019. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Seriously, do these people get a second dessert in the Capitol Cafe if they come up with a title that has a catchy acronym? If it wasn’t so sad it would be funny.

Additional Legislation

Other data privacy legislation proposed in 2023 include the Informing Consumers About Smart Devices Act, Upholding Protections for Health and Online Location Data Privacy Act of 2023, Data Care Act of 2023, Online Privacy Act of 2023, Platform Accountability and Transparency Act, American Innovation and Choice Online Act, and Algorithmic Justice and Online Platform Transparency Act.

Conclusions

All the data privacy issues and concerns addressed by the various pieces of legislation could be addressed by a single, comprehensive, federal data privacy law. When that will happen is anyone’s guess.

Disclaimer

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