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Momentum for state privacy bills has been growing over the past couple of years, as lawmakers respond to privacy invasions and constituent demand to address them. As several states end their legislative sessions for the year and lawmakers begin to plan for next year, we urge them to pay special attention to strengthening enforcement in state privacy bills.
Strong enforcement sits at the top of EFF’s recommendations for privacy bills for good reason. Unless companies face serious consequences for violating our privacy, they’re unlikely to put our privacy ahead of their profits. We need a way to hold companies directly accountable to the people they harm—especially as they have shown they’re all-too willing to factor fines for privacy violations into the cost of doing business.
To do so, we recommend a full private right of action—that is, making sure people have a right to sue companies that violate their privacy. This is how legislators normally approach privacy laws. Many privacy statutes contain a private right of action, including federal laws on wiretaps, stored electronic communications, video rentals, driver’s licenses, credit reporting, and cable subscriptions. So do many other kinds of laws that protect the public, including federal laws on clean water, employment discrimination, and access to public records. Consumer data privacy should be no different.
Unless companies face serious consequences for violating our privacy, they’re unlikely to put our privacy ahead of their profits.
Yet while private individuals should be able to sue companies that violate their privacy, it is only part of
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Read the original article: Improving Enforcement in State Consumer Privacy Laws