Warner, Hawley Bill Would Make Platforms Report Value of Consumer Data

Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., introduced legislation Monday requiring “data harvesting companies” to disclose how consumer data are monetized and valued. The Designing Accounting Safeguards to Help Broaden Oversight and Regulations on Data (Dashboard) Act would apply to commercial data operators, like social media platforms, with more than 100 million monthly active users. Operators would have to file annual reports detailing “the aggregate value of user data they’ve collected, as well as contracts with third parties involving data collection.” The bill would implement user rights to delete data. The legislation would empower the SEC “to develop methodologies for calculating data value.” The premise that consumers are getting the short end of the bargain with online platforms by sharing data for free services is incorrect, said Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Vice President Daniel Castro. Sharing data, which can be offered to multiple companies, isn’t the same as paying monetary fees for service, he continued. But he agreed with Hawley and Warner that if a bill moves forward for calculating data value, the SEC is the right agency. American Enterprise Institute scholars Will Baird and Jim Harper criticized a separate tech-related bill from Hawley (see 1905200036), saying the Do Not Track Act would allow consumers to “block online companies from collecting any data beyond what is indispensable to the companies’ online services.” The legislation would “create regulatory headaches” for users, operators and industry while failing to increase user privacy, they wrote. The bill, aimed at improving online user experience, would also “mandate one of the most universally despised features of the internet: the pop-up” in order to inform users of a do not track option, they said.