The Right to Know Act

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     Bonnie Lowenthal, California State Assemblymember, has introduced the "Right to Know Act 2013", an act that would give consumers the right for them to request and obtain their personal data from businesses, and also require businesses to share with their consumers how and with whom they are sharing their data. 

     According to the act, the bill would provide such personal information as well as the names and contact information for third parties with which the business has shared the information within the past 12 months, at not charge, within 30 days of original consumer request.  

     Consumer privacy is a huge issue today- many consumers do not know what information is being tracked about them, and how to attempt to stop the sharing of such data. This act could aid in the transparency of businesses to inform their consumers about how they are using their personal information to aid in sales. However, even though the article states that this act shouldn't restrict data sales, there is a concern that the bill's purpose does exactly that; if consumers know where their data is being used by which company, this bill could potentially enable the consumer, through contact requests to those companies, to restrict the use, and sale, of their data. The article states that companies use the "big data" of consumer information to "optimize their business strategies, create revenue streams, and attract advertisers"; therefore, chances are that tech companies aren't thinking too fondly of this new bill since it will restrict their main source of revenue. 

     Aside from the potential revenue hit companies may receive, acceptance of the bill in legislature would help in bringing some piece of mind to the billions of people who generate personal data on the internet everyday.