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Consumer Reports applauds introduction of the People’s Privacy Act in Washington

WA privacy bill is based on CR and EPIC’s model state privacy bill

Olympia, WA — Washington Representative Shelley Kloba introduced today the People’s Privacy Act, a groundbreaking bill that seeks to advance strong, comprehensive privacy protections for all Washingtonians.

This legislation is based on CR and EPIC’s model state privacy bill and takes a strong data minimization approach to controlling companies’ data practices and protects consumers’ privacy by default. The bill would ban outright the sale and use of sensitive data for targeted advertising. Sensitive data includes information revealing consumers’ precise geolocation, race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, as well as information about minors. The legislation also includes strong enforcement provisions, stating that any violation is an unfair or deceptive act in trade or commerce and an unfair method of competition under the Washington Consumer Protection Act, which includes a private right of action.

“We applaud Representative Kloba for introducing comprehensive privacy legislation that puts consumer protection first,” said Matt Schwartz, policy analyst at Consumer Reports. “For too long, tech companies have abused their power to exploit our personal data without meaningful accountability. This bill provides strong, default protections that appropriately shifts the onus of privacy protection from consumers to businesses themselves. We look forward to working with the Representative to move this measure forward.”

Since the passage of the California Consumer Privacy Act in 2018, the number of comprehensive state privacy laws has grown to 19, covering approximately 44% of the U.S. population. Massachusetts also recently introduced a similar bill based off of CR and EPIC’s model state privacy bill. 

Contact: Cyrus Rassool, cyrus.rassool@consumer.org