In a move that is aimed at
offering more transparency, the US House of Representatives has
approved a data accountability bill called the Data Accountability and
Trust Act, which could become a law if passed by the Senate.
A few days ago, the House of Representatives passed a
legislation that could
have far reaching implications for those who deal in data or data
brokers.
Pending approval by the US Senate, the Data Accountability and Trust
Act proposes
two important requirements:
That data brokers issue a
countrywide notification in the event of specific data breaches; and
That data brokers permit those on
their data lists to modify and verify information held about them.
Besides this, the legislation requires data brokers to share
details of their
security policies with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The bill
also authorizes
the FTC to perform a thorough security audit of the data broker, should
a data
breach occur.
As far as the countrywide notice of breach is concerned, data
brokers will
be exempt from issuing this notice if they find that there has been no
significant
risk posed to consumers as a result of the breach.
For consumers, the bill opens the door to more control and
visibility over
personal information held by data brokers. However, for marketers, it
could
mean more disclosure of information to the public and creating
processes, systems
and controls that make this possible without compromising the quality
of data
acquired.
Will it significantly affect the email
marketing industry? Only time will
tell. Until then, keep watching this space.
Source: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Government-IT/House-Passes-Data-Accountability-Bill-810221/
