Senate bill prohibiting health, location data brokerage unveiled

Health and location data sales and transfers among data brokers would be barred under new legislation unveiled by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Ohio, Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., according to The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

Aside from providing the Federal Trade Commission with $1 billion to ensure its implementation, the bill would also enable the agency, state attorneys general, and individuals whose information had been exploited to file charges against data brokers. Such a measure, which could be refiled next year should it fail to advance before the current Congress ends in early January, comes amid mounting legislative efforts to crack down on data brokers, including the American Privacy Rights Act, which was introduced by Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., to curtail unfair practices among data brokers but is not expected to be passed by the end of this Congress amid criticism regarding some of its provisions.