Republican senators to introduce coronavirus-related privacy bill

A group of key Republican senators announced Thursday they intend to introduce legislation aimed at protecting consumer data privacy during the coronavirus pandemic.

The COVID-19 Consumer Data Protection Act would require companies to have consumers opt in before having their data used to track the spread of coronavirus and allow them to opt out at any point.

The legislation would also direct companies to tell consumers how their data would be used, to whom it might be transferred and for how long it would be held.

The legislation would also have companies publicly share transparency reports on how they use data to combat coronavirus and delete personally identifiable information once it’s no longer needed for the public health emergency.

The legislation is set to be jointly introduced by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and relevant subcommittee chairmen John Thune (R-S.D.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), as well as Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), a key player in past data privacy negotiations.

“As the coronavirus continues to take a heavy toll on our economy and American life, government officials and health-care professionals have rightly turned to data to help fight this global pandemic,” Wicker said in statement.