The Virginian Pilot: Virginia lawmakers spotlight children’s online privacy, safety concerns 

Virginia was the second state to adopt a law that protected consumer data. The law was passed in 2021 and became a blueprint for other state legislatures in the absence of any federal standard, according to a recently published report by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, or EPIC. 

The center is a 30-year-old research organization focused on privacy protection and technology. 

Virginia received an F grade, or an 11 out of 100, for its Consumer Data Protection Act, according to EPIC’s report released in early February. State consumers can only opt out of personal data collection and have such data deleted by contacting the data company, something EPIC said does not truly protect consumers. 

The state’s original consumer data bill was drafted by Amazon lobbyists, who have influenced privacy acts across the nation, according to the EPIC report and Reuter’s investigation. 

There was opposition to the bill in 2021 because the consumer was not allowed the right to sue a data controller for misuse of data, according to a previous Capital News Service report. Instead, the attorney general’s office handles enforcement. 

A better data privacy act would not allow the data controllers to determine what personal information is collected, according to EPIC. 

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