A House and Senate bipartisan data privacy bill would let users opt out of targeted ads and sue internet companies that improperly sell their data, and more

The proposal, considered a step forward, still lacks the support of some key members — A bipartisan group of legislators …

Washington Post 2022-06-04

Context & Ripple Effects

This June 2022 proposal is the opening move of the current congressional push for a comprehensive US privacy law: it pairs an opt-out of targeted ads with a right to sue over improper data sales, and it quickly gained traction — by July a House panel had advanced its successor, the American Data Privacy and Protection Act, by a lopsided 53-2 committee vote, and privacy experts flagged it as potentially the country's first strong federal privacy law in a detailed look at the bill.

The arc since then shows Congress iterating rather than passing: two years later lawmakers circulated a draft American Privacy Rights Act adding a data broker registry to the same opt-out framework, while the House separately moved to bar data brokers from selling Americans' personal data to foreign adversaries in a bill now headed to the Senate. The through-line is bipartisan agreement on the problem and recurring drafts, with full enactment still elusive.

First-order effects

Users would gain a direct lever over their own data — an opt-out of targeted advertising plus legal standing to sue companies that improperly sell their information.
Internet companies whose models depend on ad targeting would face new compliance obligations and litigation exposure under a single federal standard.

Second-order effects

Ad-funded platforms would have to rework how they collect and monetize behavioral data, shifting value toward consent-based and contextual approaches.
Data brokers become the visible target of the legislative sequence — from sale restrictions to the later registry proposal — facing registration and disclosure requirements that shrink their opacity advantage.

Third-order effects

If the pattern of bipartisan drafts holds, the US moves from a state-by-state patchwork toward one comprehensive federal privacy law, with private lawsuits as the enforcement backbone.
Repeated committee advances without final passage suggest the binding constraint is Senate floor time and key-member support, not the shape of the policy itself.

The trend: Congress is converging, draft by draft, on a comprehensive federal consumer privacy law built around opt-outs, data broker controls, and user litigation rights.

Discussion

@sethmills21 Seth Miller on x
the audacity....after decimating an entire economy [screenshot of prompt to turn on Apple's Personalized Ads]
@rebeccamkern Rebecca Kern on x
Scoop - @FrankPallone, @cathymcmorris and @SenatorWicker have a draft federal privacy bill wherein they've compromised on preemption and a limited private right of action. They've shared it with industry and privacy advocacy groups.for @POLITICOPro. https://subscriber.politicopro…
@viacristiano Cristiano Lima on x
NEW: House & Senate leaders unveiled a draft privacy bill in a breakthrough for the long-stalled talks, but major hurdles remain with time ticking away & key holdouts https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... w/ @jacobbogage
@01core_ben Ben Buchanan on x
I do admire how brazenly Tim is willing to lie. Monday he's destroying millions of small businesses to steal ad share, Tuesday he's turning over 100% of user data in China to the CCP, Wednesday he's playing the role of knight in armor, here to save the world from dangerous “ads” …
@timsweeneyepic Tim Sweeney on x
@Mechani_Kong @sethmills21 Decimation is an involuntary reduction by 10%. Apple more that decimated the independent ad economies of Unity, Facebook, and others - see Unity's oblique shareholder disclosure on the topic. https://en.wikipedia.org/...
@wenbinters Ben Winters on x
for any fellow dweebs interested in the algo harm parts of the federal privacy bill that just dropped — it's section 207 starting on page 32 here: https://energycommerce.house.gov/ ... and the whole bill section by section is here: https://energycommerce.house.gov/ ... and their …
@amolumd Amol Deshpande on x
Although a federal privacy bill is much-needed, this draft offers only the most basic consumer protections, exempts “de-identified” data, and doesn't cover ethical data use issues... I would rather it doesn't pass as is and preempt the much more comprehensive state regulations...…
@blakereid Blake E. Reid on x
But onto the real action: the default presumption is preemption of state laws. That's bad news; literally any state law that nominally strays into the extremely broad subject matter of this bill and implementing regs is by default subject to a federal preemption fight. 4/ https:/…
@wenbinters Ben Winters on x
@Cyn_K yes, i believe thats right. especially b/c algorithm is only used in context of algos and civil rights section (207) of this so based on decisions 1 fear is algos “informing” decision-making or playing a non-binding part could be argued as not even “facilitating” and skate…
@fbbagholder @fbbagholder on x
Get out of here [screenshot of prompt to turn on Apple's Personalized Ads]
@blakereid Blake E. Reid on x
Of course, there are an extremely broad set of exceptions. Overall, these introduce a ton of ambiguity to the statue. Most notably, preemption doesn't apply to “civil rights laws,” with no further elaboration on what that means! What privacy law is not a civil rights law? 5/
@swodinsky @swodinsky on x
mfw getting to the fifth page of said draft and seeing carveouts for adtech fuckery, employee surveillance, and telemarketers who use ur public info to target u with offers for cars u can't drive (in that order) https://www.commerce.senate.gov/ ... https://twitter.com/...
@blakereid Blake E. Reid on x
Quickly, the federal preservation section is confusing. The reference to the very specific breach provision in the CPNI rules stands in stark contrast to the broad savings clause for other federal laws. Are there other limiting authorizations? Will need to analyze carefully. 2/ h…
@mkobach Matthew Kobach on x
The power of framing: Apple asked their users if they wanted to protect their “privacy” from third-party apps, and to opt out of data tracking. But when it benefited Apple, they re-framed it as an option for “personalized ads”. Same exact concept, framed two different ways. https…
@cyn_k Cynthia Khoo on x
@Wenbinters Thanks for highlighting! Does that mean... if an algorithm does not make /facilitate a decision or facilitate human decision-making wrt covered data, then under this Act, it's not considered an algorithm at all? I guess that's one way to prevent unintentional overbrea…
@blakereid Blake E. Reid on x
There are also some exceptions where the law yields to some of the provisions of sector-specific laws like GLBA, HIPAA, FERPA, FCRA, etc. Will take deep dive by experts to understand those interactions. 3/
@swodinsky @swodinsky on x
@WillOremus i honestly think it's bc this bill does a really really good job at maintaining the current privacy status quo while *also* codifying exemptions for law enforcement/employers. ofc moderates love it, they're getting what we already have https://twitter.com/...
@swiftstories Mike Swift on x
Apple CEO @tim_cook comes out in support of bipartisan federal #privacy legislation talks, but you have to wonder where @SenatorCantwell is on this...as @mlexclusive noted in today's coverage, without her this probably doesn't mean much. https://content.mlex.com/... https://twitt…
@appleworkers @appleworkers on x
Speaking of legislation and laws, @tim_cook, make sure @Apple doesn't violate the #NLRA @NLRB WORKERS' RIGHT TO ORGANIZE! #UnionizeApple #OrganizeApple #AppleUnion #UnionStrong #AppleTogether #AppleToo #Apple #AAPL $AAPL https://twitter.com/...
@billda Bill D'Alessandro on x
@tobi Unbelievable. But actually, totally predictable. I cannot believe Apple has gotten off with zero blowback on this entire privacy charade. So many small businesses as collateral damage and somehow it's Facebook's fault.
@tim_cook Tim Cook on x
We've long needed comprehensive federal privacy legislation and I'm pleased to see the growing momentum behind it. At Apple, we believe privacy is a fundamental human right, and we will keep working to support the strongest privacy bill possible.
@frankpallone Rep. Frank Pallone on x
Pleased to join bipartisan House and Senate leaders to announce our data privacy discussion draft. This critical milestone represents the best opportunity to pass a federal data privacy law to give Americans more control over their personal data. https://energycommerce.house.gov/…
@thoward37 @thoward37 on x
Terrible definition of an “algorithm”... but it's true that it's often used this way in common speech, so I can see why they did that. Would be cool if they just used an accurate term... Or maybe understood the technology even a little bit before trying to make laws about it. htt…
@0xfr_ @0xfr_ on x
@1NDi60 i was always too cynical to think of their privacy push as anything other then hurting their biggest competitors, surprised that google and meta didn't lobby for right to repair in response
@cathymcmorris CathyMcMorrisRodgers on x
I'm leading with @SenatorWicker and @FrankPallone on a strong national privacy framework to protect Americans' data & personal information. Read the discussion draft of our comprehensive privacy and data security framework. ↓ https://republicans-energycommerce.hous e.gov/ ...
@tobi @tobi on x
Still, very decent of them to ask. Let's use this language everywhere!
@can @can on x
I wish Apple didn't decimate that economy but utterly destroyed it https://twitter.com/...
@tobi @tobi on x
Apple going full Russel Conjugation here I personalize, you track across apps, they invade your privacy. https://twitter.com/...
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
The proof that Apple deliberately designed ATT to harm mobile ads of competitors like Google & Facebook under the guise of privacy is that when it comes to their system they call it “Personalized Ads” and not “Tracking”. https://twitter.com/...
@willoremus Will Oremus on x
The new privacy bill is interesting politically. It has support from moderates in both parties but not the ones who care most about privacy (who see it as entrenching a broken status quo) or the ones who really don't care about consumer protection at all. https://www.washingtonpo…
@ariezrawaldman Ari Ezra Waldman on x
Another gift to industry. https://twitter.com/...
@jduballreports Joe Duball on x
While we were all sleeping..... Got a few months to solidify or let it all crumble before Wicker likely bows out of Commerce and takes the GOP willingness to negotiate follows him out the door. https://twitter.com/...
@margarethmcgill Margaret Harding McGill on x
For those who want to go deeper, here's the full discussion draft and a section-by-section review: https://www.commerce.senate.gov/ ... & https://energycommerce.house.gov/ ... https://twitter.com/...
@margarethmcgill Margaret Harding McGill on x
NEW: Key lawmakers are out with a bipartisan draft privacy bill, showing signs of life in the long-running Washington debate over federal privacy legislation https://www.axios.com/...
@aaschapiro Avi Asher-Schapiro on x
It looks like Democrats & Republicans in the House came to a compromise on a national privacy bill—with a limited private right of action (a Democrat priority), & federal preemption of more aggressive state laws (a GOP priority). https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@johndavisson John Davisson on x
There'll be a lot to chew over in this bill, but hard to overstate the significance of a bipartisan framework on comprehensive privacy legislation(!) https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
Surveillance advertising industry, including Facebook and Google, is also desperate to preempt California's updated law before it takes effect in January significantly limiting their tracking of all of us. This will be interesting to watch. https://twitter.com/...
@evan_greer Evan Greer on x
👀 will have to see details of the bill but it would sure be nice if we could get meaningful action on privacy AND tech antitrust this Congress https://twitter.com/...

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