The crusade toward passing online privacy protection laws continues to expand, with several more states adopting consumer privacy legislation this year. California has been at the forefront of the movement to keep its residents safer online, having already passed the most effective consumer privacy protection in the nation.
Now there has been a move at the federal level to pass similar legislation, through a bill called the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA). However, as it is currently written, the bill would actually weaken some of the protections already in place for Californians and have an equally harmful impact in other states where laws are now being considered.
The California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) recently issued an announcement opposing APRA, and sent a letter to the Chairs of the House Energy & Commerce Committee and the Innovation, Data, and Commerce Subcommittee to voice their concerns.
As a company that has spent more than a decade protecting the online privacy of judges, police officers, social workers and other at-risk professionals, IronWall360 stands behind CPPA and fully supports its efforts to retain the privacy laws already enacted by the state.
Read our whitepaper: The Weaponization of Privacy
The danger, if ARPA were to pass in anything like its current form, would be a watering-down of existing protections, as well as the restriction of any state passing new and tougher consumer privacy protection laws in the future.
“APRA leaves crucial gaps in protections for everyone but could be particularly damaging for groups that tend to be the most vulnerable,” said Maureen Mahoney, CPPA’s Deputy Director of Policy and Legislation. “This federal proposal could undo years of work to secure strong privacy protections for Californians.”
IronWall360 has reached out to the sponsors of APRA in the hope of discussing this legislation. We will keep you posted on our progress.
