For decades, Congress has tried and failed to give Americans control over their own personal data: the right to see it, correct it, and delete it at will. This inaction has left Americans with no recourse against misuse of their own data, while the data broker industry quietly continues to collect and sell the personal information of millions, operating in a largely unchecked gray market.
Several states — California, Virginia, and Texas among them — have stepped in to fill the void, passing laws requiring data brokers register with the state, honor deletion requests, and disclose what data they collect. But enforcement is uneven and coverage is inconsistent., Companies operating across state lines face little practical consequence for non-compliance.
Now, two new bills, the SECURE Data Act and the GUARD Financial Data Act, offer the latest test of whether Washington can step up and finally pull data brokers out of the shadows and into the reach of the law.
Additionally concerning, efforts to prevent the SECURE Data Act — or any federal protections — from being enacted are currently on full display. A June 3 hearing by the Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee revealed that some in Congress would rather not preempt existing state data protection laws with a national standard. But absent federal action, the patchwork that now exists would leave consumers at a decided disadvantage, with protections varying from area code to area code, dependent entirely on the residence of individual Americans.
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