Bipartisan Data Privacy Bill Proposed in Congress

Facts

• Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Rep. Cathy McMorris (R-Wash.), both respectively chairs of each chamber's commerce committee, have proposed a bipartisan bill titled the American Privacy Rights Act.¹
• The proposed bill would enable Americans to opt out of data practices such as targeted advertising, and force companies to collect only as much data as is necessary to offer specific products to users. All provisions would be enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).²
• Users would also have to be notified if their data is transferred to a foreign adversary, be able to stop companies from using their personal data if its privacy policy changes, and be able to sue if their privacy rights are violated.³
• Companies with over $250M in annual revenue, and which collect data on at least 5M users or 15M devices, would be forced to conduct bi-annual privacy impact assessments and file annual internal control assessments to the FTC.⁴
• Cantwell and McMorris each drafted a bill for their respective congressional chambers, but they're both 'discussion' drafts, meaning they can request input from other lawmakers and outside groups before introducing it formally.⁵

Sources: ¹Energycommerce, ²commerce.senate.gov, ³Forbes, ⁴Nextgov.com and ⁵Washington Post.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Roll Call. With over a dozen US states and the European Union (EU) having passed their own privacy laws, Congress is finally acting on this paramount issue. Notably, unlike most state laws in effect, the bill would allow consumers to sue tech companies for violating the terms of the legislation. This topic is too great to be dealt with at the state political level — a topic of such national importance must be addressed federally.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Jacobin. Congress has no real desire to pass data regulations on American tech companies. As was shown by the Twitter Files, the government is very close to Big Tech, to the point where Silicon Valley's most powerful firms censor whoever the intelligence agencies ask them to. Americans shouldn't expect their data to be protected, instead they should only anticipate further crackdowns on dissenting opinions.

Predictions