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Senator Introduces Bill That Would Send CEOs To Jail For Violating Consumer Privacy (vice.com)
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has introduced the Consumer Data Protection Act that "would dramatically beef up Federal Trade Commission authority and funding to crack down on privacy violations, let consumers opt out of having their sensitive personal data collected and sold, and impose harsh new penalties on a massive data monetization industry that has for years claims that self-regulation is all that's necessary to protect consumer privacy," reports Motherboard. From the report: Wyden's bill proposes that companies whose revenue exceeds $1 billion per year -- or warehouse data on more than 50 million consumers or consumer devices -- submit "annual data protection reports" to the government detailing all steps taken to protect the security and privacy of consumers' personal information. The proposed legislation would also levy penalties up to 20 years in prison and $5 million in fines for executives who knowingly mislead the FTC in these reports. The FTC's authority over such matters is currently limited -- one of the reasons telecom giants have been eager to move oversight of their industry from the Federal Communications Commission to the FTC. "Today's economy is a giant vacuum for your personal information -- everything you read, everywhere you go, everything you buy and everyone you talk to is sucked up in a corporation's database," Wyden said in a statement. "But individual Americans know far too little about how their data is collected, how it's used and how it's shared."
"It's time for some sunshine on this shadowy network of information sharing," Wyden said. "My bill creates radical transparency for consumers, gives them new tools to control their information and backs it up with tough rules with real teeth to punish companies that abuse Americans' most private information."
"It's time for some sunshine on this shadowy network of information sharing," Wyden said. "My bill creates radical transparency for consumers, gives them new tools to control their information and backs it up with tough rules with real teeth to punish companies that abuse Americans' most private information."
It would be fitting torture for both.
Those brokers are not nearly as dangerous as things like Google buying access to MasterCard's data. Facebook and MasterCard also appear to have bidirectional sharing agreement.
If you don't touch that, it's like fighting the drug war while conspicuously avoiding ever moving on the cartels and focusing only on street dealers and their suppliers.
... for the most futile good-will gesture in all of history.
companies whose revenue exceeds $1 billion per year -- or warehouse data on more than 50 million consumers or consumer devices -- submit "annual data protection reports"
So, Only the biggest companies with the biggest legal depts are required to 'self report'?
Thanks Senator (x) That will be so helpful let me give you all our votes.
~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
I trust private companies more than the govt.
And it has my support...
Jail is too far off a concept for people in charge. I always felt that a simple solution would be to immediately charge companies the following penalty schedule for losing each customer record:
$2 for each name + password
$5 for phone number
$10 for social security number
And multiply for combinations of the above. You'll see companies start fixing their processes (or simply refusing to store unnecessary data, right quick.
If this ever passes I doubt you would even see a "perp walk", let alone jail time, from the worst offenders.
That's the fundamental problem: Government represents a gun that deep pockets can pay to point at their competition; it's not the case that Big Business corrupt government, but rather it's the case that Big Government corrupts businesses.
We had the same problem with religiosity, each sect trying to grab that big governmental stick and thereby beats its will into anyone who had another opinion. We solved that problem with the
Separation of Church and State.
Now, we need a
Separation of Business and State.
The role of the government was never meant to be the chooser of winners and losers—that's the role of The People. The American experiment was to create a government whose sole role is to protect the rights of each individual, chief among which are the rights to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness (i.e., the pursuit of self-interest). This experiment has failed, because The Founders forgot to forbid government from usurping The People's right to be the sole owners of society's resources.
He released a "discussion draft" of a bill he might introduce later, assuming that Sen. Menendez's 2017 bill, "Consumer Data Protection Act" and other bills in the Senate and House addressing the same issue don't go anywhere.
More posturing for the home crowd to make it look like he's getting something done in Congress.
You only think that's not the real reason behind almost all legislation.
In about 2/3 of the world, you go into government because that's where the money is -- getting in the way of business and people, so you can get paid to get back out of the way. And I'm not just talking politicians.
It's much more restricted in the West, but far from gone.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Just saying.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
> Not that he was part of the financial crisis, but Rick Scott, the governor of Florida, was an exec that was tried for fraud.
Nope. He was never charged.
If you said you think he should have been charged, based on you having looked at the evidence, I wouldn't argue. The fact is, the prosecutors didn't see any reason to charge him personally.
"tough rules with real teeth to punish companies that abuse Americans' most private information"
I highly doubt it.
This insane data sucking shouldn't be an option. Making it opt-in just means they make it a condition of using the service and bury it in some legalize somewhere or even not, people will still opt-in to use whatever platform. Some things you just have to take off the table. You see how well "opt-in" works for using invasive drug testing and irrelevant credit history for employment.
...and also throw the executive suite in jail for polluting and all sorts of other malfeasance.
After all, if companies have the rights of persons, they should be treated like them.
Then they could just claim ignorance, so this is useless.
Wrong idea anyway, shareholders are the ones that should be punished.
Wipe out 15% of their stock value, then let them sue the CEO for negligence.
I hope Sen. Wyden bill passes. However, I think the fines need to be larger. I would impose fines of at three times the revenue or profit from selling the data plus the $5 million fine. Otherwise, if a company makes $500 million from selling data, having to pay a $5 million fine is a business risk I might take. However, if the fine was $1.5 billion, I would be much more careful.
You obviously don't understand how Social Security works. Does the phrase Ponzi Scheme mean anything to you? Social; Security is a Ponzi Scheme. It isn't "your money" once you give it to the government. It's a kind of tax that's used to pay people already receiving Social Security. It's a tax paid by you and your employer to allow people already receiving Social Security to be paid.
When the program was started the people to first receive Social Security payments hadn't paid in anything. They qualified because they were breathing and above a certain age. It was Roosevelt's scheme to lower the unemployment numbers by paying people to leave the workforce. In some way it's purpose is still to do that.
"Your money" doesn't get put into a bank account, investment account or even a piggy bank. The majority of it is used to pay people now on Social Security. The rest is spent by the government as part of the general fund.
As the ratio of retired workers to working workers increases the scheme will unravel as do all Ponzi Schemes.
Recently Senator Heitkamp deliberately used private information from women without their consent in a campaign ad. Would this bill apply to her and put her in jail? Or is there a loophole for politicians?
Because maybe the Equifax execs should be in prison? Having NO punishment for these blatant security issues should carry some prison time. Then perhaps they'd do the proper testing and shit to begin with.
Life was hell, then I discovered Linux...
You are so high and mighty, but fail to realize people do not know everything and will never understand everything. Each time there is something, someone like you is here gloating about being so damn smart about it. But there are millions of different scenes where you have to shine and even if you shine here now, then at some other thing, you are just as "dumb" as the rest of the people.
And then who are you gonna call?
The cash penalty should include forfeiture provisions for money made from the misbehavior. A lot of these guys have options that would tank if that happened. It would also give boards of directors and shareholders reasons to worry about the issue too.