Governor Ron DeSantis has announced the introduction of a new bill in the Florida House of Representatives for data privacy that aims to give Floridians more control over their data that is collected by technology companies.
This comes after DeSantis’ statements on “Big Tech” on Feb. 2, saying that it is becoming more and more like Big Brother every day.
“Floridians should not have to give up their most intimate information to use a mobile device, surf the Internet, or connect with friends and families on social media,” he said in a press conference on Feb. 15. “The status quo has been a one-way street with big tech, where they have all the power, they dictate all the rules, they take whatever data they want when they want, and consumers get nothing, except the quote ‘privilege’ of using their own devices that they’ve already paid for.”
The bill was introduced in the state House of Representatives by Representative Fiona McFarland, a Republican from Sarasota, on Feb. 17.
“Today, when we interact with websites, apps and services online, we leave behind troves of personal information about ourselves,” said McFarland in the same press conference. “While we celebrate the spirit of American ingenuity and innovation, we must balance this with protections for our private information.”
The bill would need to pass in both the state House of Representatives and the state Senate before it would appear on DeSantis’ desk.
The main goal of this proposed legislation would be to give the power back to the consumers and away from “Big Tech.” This would be done by putting forth new protective methods for Floridians and their data privacy.
The first thing that the law would do is require all businesses to create a privacy policy for all personal information. It would also allow consumers to know what information the company has already collected on them and let consumers request that the companies delete or edit specific personal information.
The law would ensure that all businesses provide consumers a way to opt-out of the sale of their personal information to others and would prohibit any retaliation against those who decide to opt-out.
It would also limit how businesses use consumers’ private data and how long they can hold on to it. The law would only enforce these new consumer data privacy requirements to larger businesses.
Who exactly is “Big Tech”? It seems like when DeSantis says this, he is referring to the large online companies, like Facebook, Twitter, Google, Apple and Amazon.
The reason why data privacy is such a big issue is because Big Tech companies are currently able to gather a large number of consumers’ personal data, including their search, shopping and location history as well as their usage of social media. Though some companies say that they keep this information secure, many other companies sell this data to advertisers in order to market to users.
Companies do often provide users with a privacy policy, but those are hardly ever read by consumers. Facebook even has the option for users to view and download the data that they have collected.
But, because that is not often the case, this proposed law would ensure that all companies strengthen their policies and list every possible piece of data that they collect when consumers go to their website or app.
The proposed legislation mirrors the California Consumer Privacy Act, passed back in 2018. According to the State of California Department of Justice, the CCPA gives California consumers new rights, including the right to know what information is collected, the right to delete personal information collected, the right to opt-out of the sale of their data and the right to non-discrimination from businesses for those exercising their CCPA rights.
Republican Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Chris Sprowls is a supporter of the bill.
“Today’s introduction of our Consumer Data Privacy legislation is another step in combating mass public distrust left in the wake of Big Tech companies’ destruction,” he said. “They don’t care about your personal information; they don’t care who gets ahold of your sensitive data. In the state of Florida, we care. It’s time to stop bad actors and help restore consumers’ trust in companies that hold the keys to their personal information.”
For anyone interested in checking out the bill and seeing everything it entails for themselves, do so by clicking here.