New bill would ban ad targeting by race

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) introduced a data privacy bill on Thursday that would prohibit companies from using data collected on users to discriminate based on race, religion, political affiliation or gender.

Cortez Masto’s Digital Accountability and Transparency to Advance (DATA) Privacy Act would expand the authority of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to set rules defining discriminatory data collection and ad targeting, as well as exact fines from companies found to be engaging in discriminatory practices.

It also would require companies to collect only “reasonable” amounts of data from its users and to give users a way to opt out of collection.

“My legislation takes a proactive approach to protecting consumer data by ensuring Americans have a voice in how their consumer data is used,” Cortez Masto said in a statement. “This bill requires companies put data protection and transparency first, while also requiring Congress and our government agencies step up to make the private data of consumers in Nevada, and across the country, a priority for protectio