Kaine Cosponsors Bill To Protect Americans' Privacy Online

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) cosponsored a bill to create a privacy bill of rights to protect the personal information of Americans on the internet. The Customer Online Notification for Stopping Edge-provider Network Transgressions (CONSENT) Act, introduced by Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), would require the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to establish privacy protections for customers who use websites and applications like Facebook and Google. In the last few years, Americans have suffered countless data privacy breaches impacting hundreds of millions of consumers.

“It’s time for Congress to seriously consider legislation that establishes strong online privacy protections for consumers,” Kaine said. “This legislation will increase transparency and disclosure and make necessary improvements to protect the personal information of Americans.”

Specifically, the CONSENT Act:

• Requires websites and apps to obtain opt-in consent from users to use, share, or sell users’ personal information.
• Requires websites and apps to develop reasonable data security practices.
• Requires websites and apps to notify users about all collection, use, and sharing of users’ personal information.
• Requires websites and apps to notify users in the event of a breach.
• Requirements are enforced by the FTC.

You can view full text of the bill, HERE.

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