ITIF Report Says GDPR-Style Data Privacy Law Would Cost U.S. Economy $122 Billion Per Year

In a recent Report the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) found that federal legislation mirroring key provisions of either the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) could cost the U.S. economy approximately $122 billion per year. In contrast, a more focused but still effective national data privacy law would cost approximately $6 billion per year—around 95 percent less than an EU-style data protection law. 

“Congress can significantly improve data protection at a fraction of the cost by passing data privacy legislation that focuses on a carefully targeted set of reforms,” said ITIF Senior Policy Analyst Alan McQuinn, co-author of the report.  “A data protection law like Europe’s would cost each U.S. adult $483, which is more than 50 percent of what Americans spend on their electric bills each year.”

The report tallies a number of costs tied to privacy legislation including:

• Hiring data protection officers: $6.4 billion
• Conducting privacy audits: $440 million
• Requiring data access, portability, deletion, and rectification: $7.2 billion
• Allowing duplicative enforcement: $2.7 billion
• Lowering consumer productivity: $1.9 billion

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The Regulatory Mix Today: ITIF Report Says GDPR-Style Data Privacy Law Would Cost U.S. Economy $122 Billion Per Year, Canada Releases 2019 Communications Report, FCC Form 477 Filing Date Announced

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Canada Releases 2019 Communications Report

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has released its 2019 Communications Monitoring Report.  The Report shows that prices for most communications services decreased in 2018, and the national monthly average reported price for wireless, Internet, television and home phone services (combined) was 11% lower in 2018 than in 2016.

The most significant price reduction was in the mobile wireless market.  The four mobile packages analyzed in the CRTC’s report showed that prices dipped by an average of 28% from 2016 to 2018, with the most significant drop being for services offering 5 gigabytes (GB) of data or more.  For example, the average monthly price for a mobile service with unlimited voice, text messaging and 5 GB of data fell by as much as 35% in 2018, from $78.36 in 2016 to $51.05.

As for the CRTC’s target broadband speeds of 50 megabits per second (Mbps) for download and 10 Mbps for upload, the average monthly reported price decreased by 3.2%, from $82.05 in 2016 to $79.40 in 2018.  The Report also shows a price drop of 8% from $27.64 to $25.55 for the average price of basic television packages between 2016 and 2018.

FCC Form 477 Filing Date Announced

The FCC announced that the filing deadline for the Form 477 data as of June 30, 2019 is September 3, 2019.  The FCC’s Form 477 filing interface is now accepting data as of June 30, 2019.  Accurate and timely submission of FCC Form 477 is mandatory for affected entities; providers that are required to file Form 477 but fail to do so may be subject to enforcement action. All voice service providers (including VoIP providers and resellers) and all facilities-based providers of broadband Internet access service who provide broadband connection to business, governmental or residential end users (including WISPs and rural entities) must file the Form 477.

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The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.