The federal government’s chief auditor has actually suggested Congress think about establishing legislation to intensify customers’ web information personal privacy securities. similar to the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.
The suggestion was consisted of in a 56-page report (PDF) released Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office, the federal government company that supplies auditing, assessment and investigative services for Congress. The report was prepared at the demand 2 years earlier by Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has actually arranged a hearing to go over the topic for Feb. 26.
“Since I requested this report, the need for comprehensive data privacy and security legislation at the federal level has only become more apparent,” Pallone stated in a declaration. “From the Cambridge Analytica scandal to the unauthorized disclosures of real-time location data, consumers’ privacy is being violated online and offline in alarming and dangerous ways.”Â
In making its suggestion, the GAO pointed out Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, stating the episode was simply among lots of current web personal privacy events in which users’ individual information might have been incorrectly divulged.
The GAO recommends offering the Federal Trade Commission more authority over web personal privacy enforcement however likewise raised issues about the commission’s enforcement capabilities. Noting that the FTC is currently the de facto authority over web personal privacy in the United States, the GAO discovered that the FTC submitted 101 web personal privacy enforcement actions in the previous years. Nearly all of those cases led to settlement arrangements, and for the most part, no fines were released since the FTC did not have the authority in those cases.
“Recent developments regarding Internet privacy suggest that this is an appropriate time for Congress to consider comprehensive Internet privacy legislation,” the GAO report stated. “Although FTC has been addressing Internet privacy through its unfair and deceptive practices authority, among other statutes, and other agencies have been addressing this issue using industry-specific statutes, there is no comprehensive federal privacy statute with specific standards.”
The report was released a day prior to news emerged that the FTC and Facebook were working out a multibillion-dollar fine to settle an examination into the social media’s personal privacy practices. The specific quantity hasn’t been figured out, however it would be the biggest fine ever enforced by the company.
The FTC started examining Facebook in 2015 after it was exposed that Cambridge Analytica, a digital consultancy connected to the Trump governmental project, incorrectly accessed information from as lots of as 87 million Facebook users. The company is checking out whether Facebook’s actions broke a 2011 arrangement with the federal government in which it promised to enhance its personal privacy practices. Facebook has stated it didn’t breach the permission decree.Â
Creating a US web personal privacy law like the GDPR has actually won some assistance from tech leaders. Apple CEO Tim Cook has applauded the reliable information personal privacy policy and stated he supports a “comprehensive federal data privacy law” in the United States.
“It is up to us, including my home country, to follow your lead,” he informed the European Parliament in October.
