ACLU Letter on Urgent Concerns With Privacy Legislation and the Legislative Process

On June 10, 2022, the American Civil Liberties Union wrote a letter to Congress about our concerns with the two consumer privacy legislation proposals currently being considered by the Senate Commerce Committee and House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Americans need a strong federal privacy law, as well as laws that provide more robust civil rights protections against tech-driven harms—and mechanisms to better enforce existing civil rights protections, but neither proposal, based on reports of current drafts, meets the nation’s needs without very significant revisions.

We urge the committees to take the time now, working off of both proposals, to make the protections stronger, make sure the legislation can survive judicial review against any First Amendment claims, bolster enforcement provisions, including providing a strong private right of action, and allow the states to continue to respond to new technologies and new privacy challenges with state privacy laws.