Bill Targeting Sale of Location Data, Senate Democrats Antitrust Revision, Antitrust Lawsuit Location Bill

June 16, 2022 – Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., introduced legislation on Wednesday that would prohibit the sale of location data by third-party data brokers.

Warren said in a statement that “data brokers gather intensely personal data such as location data from seemingly innocuous sources including weather apps and prayer apps – oftentimes without the consumer’s consent or knowledge.”

Under the legislation, called the Health and Location Data Protection Act, the Federal Trade Commission would be given $1 billion to enforce rules on data brokers over the following 10 years.

The bill would ban data brokers from selling or transferring location data and health data. The FTC would be responsible for enforcing the rules within 180 days, with exceptions for HIPAA-compliant activities, protected First Amendment speech, and validly authorized disclosures.

The bill would also empower the FTC, state attorneys general and individuals to sue data brokers and enforce the provisions of the law.

Senate Democrats ask for revisions to antitrust bill

Four Democratic Senators sought revisions to an antitrust bill, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, that would strengthen prohibitions on anticompetitive conduct and mergers by banning dominant tech platforms from preferencing their own products and services over competitors.

The bill was introduced by Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., but underwent criticism during the committee markup that it would target American companies and have a negative impact on privacy and cybersecurity. In response to concerns, Klobuchar released revisions in May.

In a letter Wednesday, four democrat Senators said that although they support the goal of the bill to limit the power of tech giants, they have concerns that it would limit companies’ ability to moderate harmful content.

“Our understanding is that you do not intend for the bill to limit content moderation in this way,” they wrote, “and we want to work with you to fix this issue.”

The letter suggested revisions to the text specifying that nothing in the legislation “may be construed to impose liability” on a platform for moderating content.

Klobuchar denied the claims in a press conference that the bill would have unintended consequences on content moderation, saying “this bill is about competition, it’s not focused on content.”

Senate passes bill allowing attorneys general to pick location of where antitrust suits are heard

The Senate unanimously passed bipartisan legislation Tuesday that allows state attorneys general to choose the location of where their federal antitrust suits are heard, a right that the federal government has.

The bill’s sponsors, Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Mike Lee, R-Utah., said the legislation, called State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act, would prevent state antitrust cases from being moved to courts preferred by defendants and is a key step to curb the monopoly power of internet giants.

“America works best when competition prevails, and consumers across the country benefit from the efforts of state attorneys general to enforce our nation’s antitrust laws,” said Klobuchar in a statement. “This bipartisan legislation will allow for more efficient and effective antitrust enforcement by state attorneys general, which is good for competition and consumers.”

The bill now moves to a House floor vote.