TechTank: Will Americans Finally See Bipartisan Federal Privacy Legislation?

Earlier this month, Congress made an important step forward in finalizing comprehensive federal privacy legislation with the release of a draft of the American Data Privacy and Protection Act. Co-authored by U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss) and House members Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash), the Act is the result of bipartisan efforts. It calls for data minimization, limited target advertising, data portability, enhanced protections for children, and seeks to combat algorithmic discrimination. It also preempts state laws and provides a limited right of action.

A federal privacy framework is way overdue in the United States. Other countries have already kickstarted the process, taking for example the implementation of the E.U.’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The proposed privacy legislation ensures the protection of historically marginalized communities’ interests, whose data is at the highest risk for misuse and exploitation.

On TechTank, host Nicol Turner Lee, Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Technology Innovation, is joined by Cameron Kerry, Ann R. and Andrew H. Tisch Distinguished Visiting Fellow of the Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution, and Jennifer King, Privacy and Data Policy Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human Centered Artificial Intelligence to unpack the current draft of the American Data Privacy and Protection Act, discuss what is still being negotiated, and its implications for the future of privacy protections for all Americans.

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