US Senate Data Care Act Reintroduced 

U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) reintroduced legislation to protect people’s personal data online.  The Data Care Act would require websites, apps, and other online providers to take responsible steps to safeguard personal information and stop the misuse of users’ data.

“People have a basic expectation that the personal information that is collected by websites and apps is well-protected and won’t be used to harm them. Just as doctors and lawyers are expected to protect and responsibly use the personal data they hold, online companies should be required to do the same. Our bill will help make sure that when people give online companies their information, it won’t be abused,” said Senator Schatz. 

The Data Care Act establishes reasonable duties that will require providers to protect user data and will prohibit providers from using user data to their detriment: 

• Duty of Care – Must reasonably secure individual identifying data and promptly inform users of data breaches that involve sensitive information; 
• Duty of Loyalty – May not use individual identifying data in ways that harm users; 
• Duty of Confidentiality – Must ensure that the duties of care and loyalty extend to third parties when disclosing, selling, or sharing individual identifying data; 
• Federal and State Enforcement – A violation of the duties will be treated as a violation of an FTC rule with fine authority. States may also bring civil enforcement actions, but the FTC can intervene. States and the FTC may go after both first- and third-party data collectors. 
• Rulemaking Authority – FTC is granted rulemaking authority to implement the Act. 

Schatz’s Data Care Act is co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

The Regulatory Mix Today: US Senate Data Care Act Reintroduced, FCC Grants Waiver of WEA Deadline 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

FCC Grants Waiver of WEA Deadline 

The Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau extended the compliance deadline for certain WEA enhancements until December 13, 2019 to allow sufficient time for testing.  In January 2018, the FCC adopted an enhanced geotargeting requirement that would require Participating CMS Providers to support, by November 30, 2019, the precise delivery of WEA Alert Messages to 100 percent of the target area specified by an alert originator, with no more than a one-tenth of a mile overshoot, for both new mobile devices offered for sale and existing devices capable of being upgraded to support this standard.  These implementation timeframes took into account that providers must complete extensive testing before rolling out these upgrades.  However, the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which administers the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) infrastructure through which all alerts are authenticated, validated, and delivered was not able to make the system available for formal testing until November 15, 2019.  Accordingly, the FCC, on its own motion, waived the effective date to allow participating providers four weeks to test the new enhancements. 

____________________________

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.