Popular online privacy measure missing at the Capitol
Two DFL state lawmakers who pushed for the creation of new online privacy protections this session are wondering why their work was left out of a compromise budget bill.
Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, and Rep. Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, pushed for the language in state law after Congress scrapped an Obama-era rule earlier this year that was designed to stop internet service providers from collecting their customers' browsing information and selling it to advertisers.
Latz amended a broader economic development bill in March with a prohibition on internet providers collecting personal data without written permission from Minnesota customers. The vote was 66-1.
The House passed a similar measure that also protected voice data and restricted the selling and sharing of personal information.
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Latz said he was shocked that neither the House nor Senate language made it into the bill. He said it was dropped “in the middle of the night, behind closed doors.”
Latz said the internet privacy question has struck a nerve in Minnesota and needs to be addressed.
“People are much more aware of the fact that their information is being taken, it’s being used, they’re being marketed, it’s being commercialized, it’s being sold,” Latz said. “They’re surrounded now by this information that’s out there somewhere on the internet, and they’re nervous about it.”
Thissen said consumers have a right to understand what “big global corporations” are doing with their data. He said they should also have a right to opt out while still having access to needed online services.
“Consumers shouldn’t have to trade away their right to participate in the modern world at the price of giving up their personal privacy,” Thissen said. That shouldn’t be the case.”
The only Senator to vote against the amendment was also involved in negotiating the budget bill.
Sen. David Osmek, R-Mound, said the Latz amendment was never properly vetted and needed more work. Osmek, who introduced similar internet privacy language as a standalone bill, said House and Senate negotiators are still trying to reach an agreement. But he said it might have to wait until next session.
“We do want to have data privacy in Minnesota, but we need to do it the right way,” Osmek said. “Rushing it through at the last minute is the wrong thing to do.”