Sen. Ossoff is working to rein in unauthorized data uses by brokers
Users will be able to ask hundreds of data brokers to delete their private data at once
Washington D.C. — U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) is working to put Americans back in control of their own data.
Today, Sen. Ossoff and Sen. Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) introduced the bipartisan Data Elimination and Limiting Extensive Tracking and Exchange (DELETE) Act, legislation that would enable and empower Americans to request that data brokers delete their personal data.
Data brokers are companies that collect, use, and sell personal data without a person’s knowledge.
The DELETE Act would direct the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to create an online tool where Americans can submit a one-time data deletion request to all registered data brokers that hold their personal data. The bill would also create a ‘do not track list’ to prohibit companies to collect these users’ data in the future.
“Data brokers are buying, collecting, and reselling vast amounts of personal information about all of us without our consent. This bipartisan bill is about returning control of our personal data to us, the American people,” Sen. Ossoff said.
“People expect privacy and their personal information to be protected,” said Dr. Cassidy. “This bill gives Americans a solution to ensure their personal data is not tracked, collected, bought or sold by data brokers.”
Congresswoman Lori Trahan (D-MA-03) introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Americans across the political spectrum agree that online companies have nearly total control of the data collected on them, and they’re right,” said Rep. Trahan. “Once our phone number, web history, or even social security number gets added to a data broker’s list, it becomes nearly impossible to get it removed. I’m proud to introduce the bipartisan DELETE Act to return power back to consumers by giving each of us the right to have sensitive personal information removed from these lists.”
Click here to read the DELETE Act.
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