Big Tech Privacy Bill Faces Delays

Big Tech has faced a number of inquiries growing in scope and scrutiny as lawmakers have been focused on competitive practices and efforts to ensure data privacy and protection.

To that end, Congress is reportedly not likely to pass legislation that will focus on data protection. Reuters reported that Congress is not likely to pass a federal data protection bill in 2019. This means that tech firms will have to comply with and navigate numerous state laws that are in turn stricter than the federal bill would have put in place.

One key state law that is in place, and which help inform other laws, as has been reported, exists with the California Consumer Privacy Act, which in turn can be traced to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) mandated by the European Union.

Under the terms of the California law, consumers have the right to request information about the data that companies are collecting on them, and can also demand that the data be deleted or that third parties do not have access to the data. Should companies be found in violation of those demands, fines equating to $750 per affected consumer may be levied.

In France, Higher Taxes May Loom

In Europe, too, taxes may get a bit more onerous for Big Tech firms. In France, the digital affairs minister has stated that he wants firms such as Amazon, Facebook and others to reveal the extent to which they do business in, and derive revenues, from France. The minister, Mounir Mahjoubi, has said that the firms are understating how much they make in that country. According to reports, he has said an amendment may be filed to pending legislation. “I want lawmakers to have the tools to pressure the government when it is negotiating with other countries for fair taxation at a global level,” Mahjoubi said in an interview, and as quoted by accountingtoday.com.

Against a wider backdrop, European Union officials state that regulators will act independently on a framework for taxation if there is a not a global arrangement put in place.  As pulsenews.com reports, the two officials, Margrethe Vestager and Paolo Gentiloni, have said that taxation will be among the key priorities to be tackled by authorities. Vestager, who is slated to become vice president of the commission,  has said that “if no effective agreement can be reached by the end of 2020, the EU should be willing to act alone” on digital taxes.

CFPB Unconstitutional?

Separately, back in the states, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is perhaps in the crosshairs, as payday lender All American Check Cashing has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rule if the agency’s structure is unconstitutional. The payday lender has said the CFPB is unconstitutional based on how the director can be removed. As reported the director cannot be fired at will by the president — an ability that does extend to other agency heads. Critics charge that this makes the head of the CFPB unresponsive to the president or to Congress. If the court rules that the structure is unconstitutional, then All American Check Cashing can ask that certain regulatory actions be undone.