With companies like Google and Facebook receiving more and more user information, one must wonder when they will overstep boundaries and reveal too much information.
This seems to be the point of President Obama's upcoming privacy bill.
Obama intends to submit a new privacy-focused bill in February that would place major limits on internet companies' ability to access to private information, Politico reports. The bill would require large internet companies, online advertisers and many others to have a customer's permission before collecting and using their sensitive information. If the data is collected for one particular purpose, then companies will be required to have a user "sign off" their info in order for the company to use it.
The proposed bill will empower the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to fine companies whenever they make a misstep regarding privacy, which will help to enforce the guidelines. The measure would strengthen government oversight on data brokers. The bill will also give consumers the ability to correct any inaccuracies in their obtained information.
The bill isn't that surprising. Obama has stated his desire for a privacy bill multiple times, including a mention of it in the State of the Union and during a speech at the FTC headquarters, in which he said, "there ought to be some basic baseline protections across industries." While the bill sounds like a win for privacy advocates, it's uncertain if it will ever get past Congress.
Congress has a long history of resisting privacy bills, especially ones that attempt to provide a comprehensive answer to security issues, according to Politico. On top of that, technology lobbyists often fight against bills like these since they might affect daily work procedures. Republicans historically didn't like bills that gave either the government or the FTC control over any aspect of the internet.
If the bill does go through, it will answer a number of worries that users in America have, including those regarding big data and misuse of personal information.
