American Data Privacy and Protection Act ⇥ gizmodo.com

Issie Lapowsky, Protocol:

Every single pig in the D.C. metro area took flight Friday when three key bipartisan lawmakers unveiled a draft of their actual, real-life, long-promised, but rarely materializing comprehensive privacy bill.

The draft of the American Data Privacy and Protection Act represents a crucial compromise between Reps. Frank Pallone Jr., Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Sen. Roger Wicker, and would give Americans unprecedented rights over their privacy, including the right to sue tech companies that violate it.

So, has the time for federal privacy law in the U.S. finally come? Come on back down to ground, little piggies. This could take a while.

Shoshana Wodinsky, Gizmodo:

And at least from a brief reading of the 10-pager outlining the bill’s basics, it looks pretty good! Upon a deeper reading though, the thing is… well, it’s not pretty good, or even remotely good. It carves out exemptions for bad bosses and law enforcement officials, while letting data brokers continue buying and selling vast amounts of our personal data with impunity.

I am following U.S. privacy legislation with great interest as it has the potential for worldwide knock-on effects. This bill seems promising on first glance, but Wodinsky documents enough loopholes and flaws to make me question how much it was influenced by anti-privacy industries. It is worrying to see a blanket exemption for data that has been “de-identified”, for example, even though we know that means nothing in terms of privacy protections.

Please try again.