EPIC Testifies in Support of Updates to Connecticut Data Privacy Act

EPIC Deputy Director Caitriona Fitzgerald testified before the Connecticut Joint Committee on General Laws today in support of updates to the Connecticut Data Privacy Act, SB 1356.

The Connecticut Data Privacy Act (CTDPA) has served as a model for many other state laws. The model bill proposed by EPIC and Consumer Reports last year used the CTDPA as its base text and suggested strengthening amendments on top of it.

In her testimony, Fitzgerald stressed the importance of updating the data minimization standard in the CTDPA to match the standard set in the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act last year. The CTDPA currently allows companies to collect and use data as is reasonably necessary for whatever purposes they disclose to the consumer. “This unfortunately incentivizes companies to list as many purposes as possible, and make them as broad as possible, to cover every conceivable use they’d ever want to our personal data for,” Fitzgerald said. “And they do this in a privacy policy that no one ever reads.”

Fitzgerald expressed her support for the proposed update to the CTDPA in SB 1356 that instead limits data collection to what is reasonably necessary for the product or service the consumer requests.

EPIC also submitted written testimony with Consumer Reports.