"Finally! A U.S. data protection bill we can get behind", 12 November 2019

In terms of protecting data privacy, the Online Privacy Act of 2019 goes far beyond [California's]... Consumer Privacy Act... [and is] more robust than any of the pending federal data privacy bills... Responding to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's failure to protect our right to privacy, the Eshoo-Lofgren legislation creates a sorely needed U.S. Digital Privacy Agency (DPA), similar in mandate to European Data Protection Agencies... The bill would also provide for the private right of action... enabl[ing] users... to sue companies for data protection violations. This private right of action is an essential component of any strong data privacy bill, as it provides victims recourse when the government fails to act... the Online Privacy Act would empower people to opt in to certain kinds of data collection, correct or delete data about themselves, and limit the amount of time companies hold their information... [T]he bill could have gone further, to limit what public authorities can obtain. Governments that are given free rein can weaponize data just as easily as private companies... [This] legislation... helps reframe the debate in the U.S. by placing our human rights, not companies' bottom line, at the center of the discussion on data privacy.