FIRST PRIVACY BILL

Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) on Wednesday reintroduced legislation Wednesday aimed at creating a national standard for data privacy.

The Information Transparency and Personal Data Control Act is the first consumer privacy bill introduced this Congress and comes shortly after Virginia passed its own state-level standard.

“Data privacy is a 21 st Century issue of civil rights, civil liberties, and human rights and the U.S. has no policy to protect our most sensitive personal information from abuse,” DelBene said in a statement.

The legislation would require businesses to get affirmative consent from users before sharing their sensitive information, like financial account numbers, health information or SSNs.

It would also let users opt-out of the collection of other nonsensitive data.

Businesses would be obligated to tell users if and why their info is being used and maintain privacy policies written in “plain language.”

The legislation would also expand the Federal Trade Commission’s authority to enforce the new law and increase the agency’s funding and staffing.