Stronger Privacy Protections Pass out of Oregon Legislature
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum praised the Oregon legislature for passing legislation (HB 2090) that will update Oregon’s consumer law to hold companies accountable for their online privacy policies. Sen. Chuck Riley carried the bill in the Senate, and Reps. Jennifer Williamson and John Huffman carried the bill in the House. The bill will now move to the Governor’s desk.
“This new law does something very simple, but important: If a business tells you its privacy policy is going to treat your online information a certain way–and then it doesn’t comply with what it told you–it’s in violation of the Oregon consumer protection laws. We are living in an era where companies are happy to give out our personal data for the right price, and some are even completely disregarding their own online privacy policies,” said Attorney General Rosenblum. “Oregonians give up a lot of data to private companies every day–everything from your location, browsing history, steps per minute, traffic patterns and much more. Now under the law, what a consumer agrees to when signing up for an app or other online tool will actually have to be followed. With shifting sands for consumer privacy at the federal level, this bill adds a level of accountability for the truthful handling of online data that is needed now more than ever.”
Under the legislation, businesses will have to follow the terms of their online privacy policies that consumers agree to before downloading an app, or other online tool. Oregon’s Unlawful Trade Practices Act, first passed in the 1970’s–well before the advent of the internet–will now cover online privacy policies so that businesses will be held accountable when they do not follow their own privacy rules.
Consumers can report violations of a companies’ privacy policy or any other consumer complaints to the Attorney General’s Consumer Complaint Hotline.
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