Sen. Gillibrand Introduces U.S. Data Protection Agency Bill

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has reintroduced the Data Protection Act, which would create an independent Data Protection Agency in the United States to safeguard the personal data of Americans. EPIC, many leading consumer and civil rights organizations, privacy experts, and scholars support Senator Gillibrand’s non-partisan bill.

“The United States has been ensnared in a data privacy crisis for decades, and putting an end to it will take significant action from Congress,” said Kara Williams, Counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center. “EPIC is proud to endorse Sen. Gillibrand’s Data Protection Act, which would establish a federal data protection agency that would focus exclusively on protecting privacy—a crucial first step to ending the mass overcollection and exploitation of Americans’ personal data.” 

Specifically, the Dat Protection Act would:

• Limit the collection, use, and sharing of personal data;
• Oversee high-risk data practices, ensure that data processing and algorithms are fair, and minimize the collection of data for commercial purposes;
• Examine the social, ethical, economic, and civil rights impacts of data collection practices;
• Maintain a publicly accessible list of data aggregators that collect, process, or share data;
• Enforce privacy statutes and rules as authorized by Congress, with a broad range of tools including civil penalties, injunctive relief, and equitable remedies;
• Develop model privacy and data protection standards, guidelines, and policies for use by the private sector and government agencies, and;
• Advise Congress on emerging privacy and technology issues.

EPIC has long advocated for the creation of a U.S. Data Protection Agency.