Privacy Groups Propose New Government Data Protection Agency

Privacy groups are calling for the creation of a new Data Protection Agency to focus on privacy protection and replace the Federal Trade Commission in that role, which lacks rulemaking authority and which, they argue, has failed to exercise the enforcement authority it has in that space. A new Framework for Comprehensive Privacy Protection and Digital Rights in the United States was proposed by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, Center for Digital Democracy, Color of Change, Consumer Federation of America, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Public Citizen, and Stop Online Violence Against Women U.S. PIRG. The plan's keys are:

1. Enact baseline federal legislation
2. Enforce fair information practices (FIPS) 
3. Establish a data protection agency
4. Ensure robust enforcement, including private rights of action and statutory damages
5. Establish algorithmic governance to advance fair data practices—"independent accountability for automated decisionmaking"
6. Prohibit "take it or leave it" terms that require users to waive privacy rights or pay more for service
7. Promote private innovation
8. Limit government access to personal data