U.S. states ponder privacy update

Future. After Illinois and California passed data-privacy legislation, over a dozen additional states have either passed, introduced, or discussed introducing their own legislation to take back control from freewheeling tech companies and advertisers. As so many states create distinct measures, the federal government may be forced to pass more unified legislation in order to provide a set of standards for potentially confused companies.

Data democracy
Several states are following the lead of Illinois and California by putting data ownership back in the hands of users.

• Nevada, Vermont, and Maine have all passed data protection legislation in the past two years.
• These laws either let residents opt-out of personal data collection, ask for citizens’ consent for data-sharing, or require transparency about how data is used (or abused).
• Virginia’s Data Protection Act, which will allow Virginians to “access, correct, delete, and obtain a copy of personal data and to opt out of the processing of personal data for the purposes of targeted advertising,” is expected to be signed into law in March
• New York, Washington, Utah, and Oklahoma are all set to vote on California-like data privacy legislation within the coming months.

Additionally, Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Connecticut, and Kentucky are all set to introduce legislation… with the vast majority focused on letting users opt out of data sharing.