A new Bill proposes to essentially outlaw the sale of location data harvested from smartphones. Introduced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren and a group of other Democratic lawmakers last week, the Bill also proposes to empower the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and individuals to take action against violators.
The Health and Location Data Protection Act (HLDPA), in its current form, will ban data brokers from selling health and location data of citizens, and comes following reports that brokers were selling location data on people visiting abortion clinics. Accordingly, there have been concerns that harvesting health and location data could be used for profiling and exploiting, and even spying on, and stalking of, people.
The HLDPA is cosponsored by Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Chair of the Senate Finance Committee; Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee; Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.); and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chair of the Senate Budget Committee.
“Data brokers profit from the location data of millions of people, posing serious risks to Americans everywhere by selling their most private information,” Senator Warren said in a statement. “The Health and Location Data Protection Act will ban brokers from selling Americans’ location and health data, rein in giant data brokers, and set some long overdue rules of the road for this $200 billion industry.”
“When abortion is illegal, researching reproductive health care online, updating a period-tracking app, or bringing a phone to the doctor’s office all could be used to track and prosecute women across the U.S. It amounts to uterus surveillance,” said Senator Wyden.
According to the proposed text of the Bill:
- Data brokers will be banned from selling or transferring location data and health data.
- The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will require to promulgate rules to implement the law within 180 days, while making exceptions for HIPAA-compliant activities, protected First Amendment speech, and validly authorized disclosures.
- Robust enforcement of the bill’s provisions by empowering the FTC, state attorneys general, and injured persons to sue to enforce the provisions of the law.
- Provision of USD 1 billion in funding to the FTC over the next decade to carry out its work, including the enforcement of this law.
The location industry in the United States is largely unregulated by federal law, and in the absence of a comprehensive data privacy legislation on the lines of the European GDPR, there are numerous instances of “unethical” business practices, and data brokers are seen as a real threat to citizens.
There is another legislation in the making on data privacy and protection, which has already gained bipartisan, bicameral support. Released on June 3, the American Data Privacy and Protection Act, (ADPPA), is the first comprehensive privacy proposal to regulate the national data privacy and data security framework.
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