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At a time when it was clear that the impact of the Equifax breach affected about three-quarters of adult Americans, lawmakers in Washington were already trying to legislate to pass legislation that he hoped would allow, in the future , at a similar disaster to empower the careless captains of the personal and private data of the Americans. However, six months later, when Facebook's Google Analytica scandal erupted, Facebook had practically put all its efforts into enacting a comprehensive bill that would punish corporate data malfeasance. Today, only a handful of 2018 campaign websites mention the problem.
On Thursday, the office of Senator Ron Wyden, one of Congress's most passionate privacy advocates, began issuing a bill to implement proposals from Silicon Valley companies that raised billions private consumer data. The Bill entitled "Consumer Data Protection Act" would make radical changes to companies such as Google and Facebook, giving consumers the ability to completely evade the sale of their data for marketing purposes. , while dramatically increasing the control rate of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). power to prosecute perpetrators of privacy violations.
To begin with, Wyden's Privacy Bill imposes on businesses with revenues of more than $ 1 billion a year (or those that store data on more than 50 million consumers or large devices). public) to submit to the government "annual reports on data protection" describing the measures taken to: ensure the security of all personal information collected. Inspired by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires executives to certify and approve the company's financial reports, the Wyden Bill would require data protection reports to be certified by the highest-level executives, including directors, who would risk not only severe fines, but also a term of imprisonment. they did not have to comply.
The current wording of the bill sets up penalties of up to $ 5 million for jail time and up to $ 5 million for executives who knowingly misled the FTC. who currently does not have the power to punish first-time offenders. Companies that violate the FTC's legislated standards will also be subject to heavy fines of up to 4% of their annual revenues. For its part, a company like Google could be fined $ 5 billion for a serious offense.
"Americans do not know enough about how their data is collected, used and shared."
But more than suspending a dagger over CEOs, the bill is intended to provide consumers with options – and in particular, the option of not being followed with every online click. As Gizmodo announced earlier this month that the "Do not Track" privacy tool, which is standard across all browsers, is currently doing nothing to deter companies from tracking their users. One of the main objectives of the Wyden Act is to give the consumer the power to control who oversees his online activities through an enforceable "one-stop" function.
Ideally, consumers would have the power to refuse to follow their visit by visiting an FTC website and, as provided by "Do not follow", their browsers would inform websites that their information should not be shared with some thirds. Similarly, websites that encounter non-tracking users would also not be allowed to facilitate third-party collection, which means that the ad network code added to the web sites for the purpose of placing them on the Internet. Vacuum on user information for third-party companies would essentially no longer be allowed.
"Today's economy is a huge void for your personal information. Everything you read, wherever you go, everything you buy and everyone you talk to is sucked into a company's database, "said Wyden. "But Americans do not know enough about how their data is collected, used and shared."
Recognizing that such an initiative would have a significant impact on companies such as Facebook, whose business model relies on its ability to track users for marketing purposes, the bill offers a simple, even elegant solution. , to companies. inform users that the only way to continue using a service or website for free is to enable tracking. But companies that choose to do so simply can not refuse services to anyone who does not want their data collected. Instead, they must offer a paid version of the service.
In practice, this would mean that Facebook users would be faced with two options: allowing Facebook to continue tracking them online so that the company can continue to take advantage of targeted advertising, or pay monthly fees to compensate for lost revenue of the society. The royalty, as described in the wording of the bill, "shall not be greater than the amount of monetary gain that the covered entity would have earned if the average consumer had not chosen not to choose". In the case of Facebook, such a fee would be relatively modest; in a 2017 annual report, the company said it earned an average of $ 20.21 per user. (A third option, proposed by a Wyden assistant, might be to allow users to continue to use a service even if they decide to opt out for free if they agree, for example, to watch a three-minute advertisement for in advance, when a user agrees to be the subject of a follow-up in exchange for the use of a "free" service; the bill requires that he be informed of the third party who will have access to what specific information.
The bill also includes two important exceptions: non-profit organizations and news organizations are exempt from the law, the latter having been deliberately excluded to protect journalists from the obligation to disclose collected data to the public. individuals as part of their journalistic activities.
The technology needed to implement the bill may not yet exist. For example, even though companies have paid attention to the "Do not track" feature, it has no impact on applications running outside browsers. The law would require such a mechanism. (Wyden's assistants recognized the complexity of designing a system that covers all the devices of the Internet of Things, televisions and vehicles that are now following the habits of online users, for example.) While the bill will spur innovation in the privacy arena, it is the responsibility of the FTC to design the technological means to create this new withdrawal system. The commission would be equipped to accomplish this feat, however, with an influx of money and personnel, as well as the creation of a technology office overseen by a new "Chief Technologist".
The project suggests appointing up to 175 FTC staff members with technological expertise, such as software engineers, including 100 additional staff for the Commission's Privacy Division and 25 individuals for his office of consumer protection. It also instructs these employees to establish the minimum standards of confidentiality and cybersecurity to be respected by companies. Finally, the bill requires companies, for the first time in American history, to evaluate the algorithms with which they process consumer data, to determine whether they are inherently detrimental to certain people, a technological problem well observed and closely related to US civil law. rights.
Wyden said his ultimate goal is to create "radical transparency" while offering consumers "new tools to control their information." The bill supports these efforts, he added, "with strict rules that punish companies that abuse the most private information of Americans. "
"It's time to take some sun on this shady network of information sharing," he said.
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