A New Bill Released Today by Two U.S. Senators: “Social Media Privacy Protection and Consumer Rights Act of 2018”

From a Slate Article:

…On Tuesday, Sens. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, and John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, released a sweeping new bill that, if passed, would impose strong new regulations on companies like Facebook and Google that collect data on users.

The Social Media Privacy Protection and Consumer Rights Act of 2018 (you can read the whole thing here) would require that websites provide users a copy of the data that’s being collected on them, free of charge, as well as a list of who has had access to their data, either through a sale or simply by it being made available. The new bill also proposes that companies disclose how personal data collected about users is leveraged—for example, through targeted advertising—and how employees of the company have access to it.

Read the Complete Article
From The Hill

“Every day companies profit off of the data they’re collecting from Americans, yet leave consumers completely in the dark about how their personal information, online behavior, and private messages are being used,” Klobuchar said in a statement. “The digital space can’t keep operating like the Wild West at the expense of our privacy.”

Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) Discusses the Legislation on CNN

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