Representative Ro Khanna from California has penned a list of ten guiding principles that he hopes to serve as an Internet Privacy Bill of Rights aimed at protecting the privacy of consumers online. The proposed bill calls for Internet neutrality, the consumers’ right to choose Internet service providers, an overhaul and greater transparency in the policies of how data is collected by technology companies, requirements to opt-in and provide consent for data collection, and timely notification by companies if security breaches occur.

How Will a Privacy Bill of Rights Help Online Privacy?

Many consumers and lawmakers alike agree that a federal law overseeing how companies handle consumers’ privacy and data rights is long overdue in the United States.

Currently, the draft for the Privacy Bill of Rights reads:

You should have the right to:

1. have access to and knowledge of all collection and uses of personal data by companies; 2. opt-in consent to the collection of personal data by a party and to the sharing of personal data with a third party; 3. where context is appropriate and with a fair process, obtain, correct or delete personal data controlled by any company and to have those requests honored by third parties; 4. have personal data secured and be notified in a timely manner when security breach or unauthorized access of personal data is discovered; 5. move all personal data from one network to the next; 6. access and use the Internet without Internet service providing block, throttling, engaging in paid prioritization or otherwise unfairly favoring content, applications, services or devices; 7. Internet service without the collection of data that is unnecessary for providing the requested service absent opt-in consent; 8. have access to multiple viable, affordable Internet platforms, services and providers with clear and transparent pricing; 9. not be unfairly discriminated against or exploited based on your personal data; and 10. have an entity that collects your personal data have reasonable business practices and accountability to protect your privacy.

Challenges for the Privacy Bill of Rights

The proposed Privacy Bill of Rights is still a work-in progress that faces a long road ahead as it will surely encounter resistance from the technology sector and require bipartisan support in Congress. However, the mere creation of it is encouraging to privacy advocates and seen as a major step toward addressing current personal data privacy concerns.

Technology and data counsel, consumers, and companies handling consumer private data should all follow the proposed bill’s progress as it is intended to curtail the recent data hacks by changing and enforcing how technology companies handle and ensure the protection of consumers’ personal data.

For more information on this topic, visit our Data Privacy service page, which is part of our Technology & Data Practice.

See our related post on data privacy:

California Consumer Privacy Act: Most Stringent Data Privacy Law in U.S.

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