Ron Wyden wants to punish tech executives with jail time when companies have privacy scandals



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Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, on Thursday released a bill that would give the Federal Trade Commission the opportunity to impose tougher penalties on technology companies that violate users' privacy. .

The bill is called the Consumer Data Protection Act. In this document, Wyden offers a national "Do Not Track" database that allows US consumers to opt out of websites storing their personal information.

Wyden targets companies that earn more than $ 50 million and store information on more than one million users.

These companies should also submit an "annual report on data protection" to ensure compliance with the law. The report must include any potential violations and include statements from the company's CEO, Privacy Officer and Information Security Officer.

If an executive deliberately misleads the government, it could be held criminally responsible. Under the proposed bill, executives could be fined up to $ 5 million and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Wyden is also proposing to the FTC to hire a new chief technologist and 50 new employees to monitor breaches of privacy.

The proposed bill comes at a time when companies in Silicon Valley are facing pressure to process user data.

Last month, Facebook revealed to have revealed information regarding 50 million users.
Uber recently paid $ 148 million to settle an investigation accusing the company of intentionally concealing the fact that hackers stole personal information from 57 million customers in 2016.
The Wyden Consumer Data Protection Act is similar to the law on general data protection in the European Union. GDPR allows users to better control their personal data and forces businesses to ensure security in the way they collect, process and store data.
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