New York Privacy Act Intro’d by Sen. Thomas Passes State Senate

(Albany, NY) — The New York State Senate passed the New York Privacy Act, championed by Senator Kevin Thomas (D-Nassau County) to strengthen protections over consumers’ personal data and create accountability standards for businesses that collect, process and use consumers’ personally identifiable data.

“Consumers should have a right to choose if and how their personal information is collected and used by companies and New Yorkers deserve to know that businesses who are collecting, processing and protecting their personally identifiable information are doing so ethically and responsibly,” said Senator Kevin Thomas, Chair of Consumer Protection.

“The New York Privacy Act will set new, groundbreaking standards for comprehensive privacy legislation by advancing consumer privacy rights and creating stronger industry standards that empower businesses to enhance consumer confidence by putting privacy and security front-and-center.”

In enacted, the New York Privacy Act would:

•  Provide consumers with more control over their privacy by requiring companies to obtain consent from consumers before processing their personal data.
•  Establish transparency and accountability standards for businesses that collect and process a significant amount of personal data.
• Equip the Office of the Attorney General with authority to conduct oversight of data brokers, companies that collect personal information about consumers and then sell that data to controllers or third parties.

Several leading business and privacy organizations are supportive of the New York Privacy Act. Prior to the bill’s reintroduction, the New York Senate held numerous hearings on protecting consumer data and privacy on online platforms to gather additional input from industry leaders, experts, and stakeholders.

Read more on the New York Privacy Act here.

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