Reps DelBene, Jeffries Debut New Opt-in Privacy Bill

Reps Suzan DelBene (D-WA) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) are offering up the latest legislative effort to regulate online privacy, including by requiring websites and online services to get opt-in permission for collecting and/or sharing web browsing data and requiring privacy policies to be delivered in 'plain English.'  They have introduced The Information Transparency and Personal Data Control Act, which would also require disclosure if, and with whom, they share behavioral data, and why, as well as require third-party audits of privacy protections submitted to the Federal Trade Commission annually, and give the FTC rulemaking authority and states the right to pursue violations. In fact, it would be the FTC that promulgated the rules in the bill, which makes sense given that the Federal Communications Commission deeded the FTC authority over most broadband regulation when it reclassified Internet service providers as information service providers in the Restoring Internet Freedom order. The bill's inclusion of an opt-in requirement for a broad category of "sensitive" information that includes web browsing history, and which gives states the ability to enforce it, makes it unlikely to attract many Republican Reps.