Washington Senate Advances Data Privacy Rules

The Washington Senate has passed a data privacy measure that would give consumers the right to manage how information held by private companies is used.

The measure, called the Washington Privacy Act, passed on a bipartisan 46-1 vote and now heads to the House for consideration.

It would require businesses or other entities that control or process the identifiable data of more than 100,000 people to allow consumers to find out what data is stored about them, correct errors or request deletion. It would also allow people the right to opt out of their data being used for the purposes of targeted advertising, and to opt out of the sale of their personal data. The measure would also set rules for facial recognition technology for companies.

The measure has been modeled on European rules and protections put in place in California.

Topics Politics Washington