S 1578 · 116th Congress 2019–2021, ended

Do Not Track Act

Fact sheet

Latest action · May 21, 2019 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

  1. IntroducedMay 21, 2019
  2. Passed SenateNot reached
  3. Passed HouseNot reached
  4. To the PresidentNot reached
  5. Became lawNot reached

Summary

Do Not Track Act

This bill requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to implement and enforce a do not track (DNT) system to protect consumers from unwanted online data harvesting and targeted advertising.

Specifically, the bill requires the FTC to designate a DNT signal (sent by a connected device) and make publicly available a program that (1) is available for download to any common connected device; and (2) sends the DNT signal to every website, online service, or online application to which a user does not want their data sent each time the device connects to it.

The bill further requires an operator of a website, service, or application to search for the DNT signal each time a device connects to it and, if it receives such signal, makes it unlawful for the operator to collect data (other than what is necessary for operation) from a user, use any data collected for targeted advertising, or share any data with a third party without consent. An operator shall not discriminate against a user based on DNT preference. If an operator collects more data than is necessary for operation and does not detect the signal, it must provide a user with notice of the user's rights under the DNT program.

Additionally, the bill prohibits a third-party operator of a program that receives the DNT signal through the connected device of a user of a covered website, service, or application from collecting user data other than data collected to analyze how or whether the user engaged with the program.

Cosponsors 2

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from May 22, 2019 to Jun 13, 2019.

SeatCosponsorSigned on
D-CADianne FeinsteinMay 22, 2019
D-VAMark R. WarnerJun 13, 2019

Actions 2

Everything that happened, newest first.

  1. May 21, 2019Introduced in Senate
  2. May 21, 2019Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Commerce.

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

  1. May 21, 2019Introduced in Senate

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Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.