Stefan Mileschin

Ordering politicians to let it do what it likes

Google and its industry allies are making a late bid to water down the first major data-privacy law in the U.S., seeking to carve out exemptions for digital advertising, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg and people familiar with the negotiations.

A lobbyist for Google typed out a new privacy law for its tame politicians that would amend the California Consumer Privacy Act. As currently drafted, the law limits how Google and other companies collect and make money from user data online, threatening a business model that generates billions of dollars in ad revenue.

It will become active next year and there are only a few more days to amend the law. The lobbying push seeks legislative approval to continue collecting user data for targeted advertising, and in some cases, the right to do so even if users opt-out, according to the documents and the people familiar with the negotiations.

It is normal for industry groups, such as the California Chamber of Commerce and the Internet Association, to write legislation in the US and apparently, no one sees anything wrong with this. The Google representative, who distributed the revised language in recent weeks, has yet to find a lawmaker to sponsor the amendments, according to people familiar with negotiations. The proposal must be in a bill by 10 September to be eligible for lawmakers to vote on it before they adjourn for the year three days later.

https://fudzilla.com/news/49333-big-...a-privacy-laws