President Obama Calls For New Federal Laws On Data Security
President Obama thinks you should be protected if you're connected. On Monday, the President called for the passing of the Personal Data Notification and Protection Act, which would require you to be notified within 30 days if a company you did business with as a consumer or professionally were breached. Secondly, the President wants access to your credit score to be simpler so you can manage your credit data should a hacker wreak havoc on your financial standing, giving you an early start on fixing the problems.
The notification of a hack is a slippery slope, as companies currently need to navigate state laws in reporting issues concerning data breaches. The Personal Data Notification and Protection Act would create the first federal mandate for hacks that breach data, though some are concerned it may not do enough.
In addition to the Personal Data Notification and Protection Act, the President is also calling for a Student Data Privacy Act. That would disallow companies that collect apps you might use via your school or educational service from using your data elsewhere. Essentially, it's creating a data silo for educational services.
On the two proposals, President Obama had the following to say:
If we're going to be connected, then we need to be protected. As Americans, we shouldn't have to forfeit our basic privacy when we go online to do our business. Each of us as individuals have a sphere of privacy around us that should not be breached, whether by our government, but also by commercial interests.
The two proposed laws represent significant benchmarks for data security, and would be the first federal proposals on the subject. They're also just proposals, and have yet to experience scrutiny from lawmakers and interested groups.
Both proposed laws come as the President ramps up for his State of the Union address on the 20th of this month, and provide a kick-off for a week-long White House narrative focussing on privacy and cybersecurity.
Via: The New York Times