House Cancels Vote on Federal Privacy Bill
The American Privacy Rights Act bill has been contentious from the start. Businesses would definitely prefer a national privacy law replacing different laws in almost 20 states. They would also prefer a weak bill with no teeth and very minimal requirements for them to comply with.
With the changes to the various drafts, many privacy advocate groups are withdrawing support.
A provision that would have prohibited algorithmic bias in decision making was axed.
A provision that would have authorized the FTC to oversee improper access and use of personal data was also removed, as were the requirements for large data holders to conduct algorithm impact assessments and mandating algorithm design evaluations and notifying users when an algorithm is being used in an online service. Also removed was the ability to opt out.
The bill was supposed to be debated in the Energy and Commerce Committee of the House. A spokesperson said they provisions were removed because of lack of agreement about them.
One person said that this was the one comprehensive privacy bill that had a chance of passing and now Congress has effectively gutted it as part of a backroom deal to appease right wing extremists. The bill was already a compromise that should have been strengthened. By removing crucial civil rights language, lawmakers have turned it into a bill that effectively endorses privacy violations and discriminatory uses of personal data. Needless to say, he is not in favor of the bill in its current form.
But it does include a requirement that the FTC submit a report on how platforms are complying with the proposed bill. I am sure that will definitely scare violators into compliance.
A spokesperson for the International Association for Privacy Professionals said that the bill’s current provisions are still “substantive”.
The committee canceled the discussion of the bill without explanation. Committee members seemed surprised by the cancellation. Likely the chairperson did not have enough votes to pass the bill out of committee.
The committee chair said “This is not how the House is supposed to operate. It’s not how this place is supposed to work”.
It is certainly possible it could still make it out of committee, but even if it does, that is a long way from becoming law. In the meantime, each state that passes its own law becomes another obstacle to getting a federal law passed since that would mean that the state law would be invalidated and any special provisions of that state’s law would be removed.
We shall see if anything becomes of this.
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