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S9073Senate2019-2020 SessionSame asA7736

Protect Personal Data Rights

Official title

“Establishes the "It's Your Data Act"”

Sponsor Leroy ComrieSD-14
Status
In Senate Committee
Rules
Impact
9/10
Transformational
Passage
0%

Bill progress

Step 2 of 7

In committee · Rules

What's happening

The "It's Your Data Act" establishes new consumer data privacy rights in New York, regulating how businesses collect, use, and share personal information, and granting consumers rights to access, delete, and control their data.

Why it matters

  1. Expands what counts as personal information. The act covers not just names and images, but also biometric data (like fingerprints and facial recognition), videos, voice recordings, and precise location data. This broader scope means more of your digital footprint is protected by law.

  2. Requires businesses to limit data collection and use. Companies can only gather, use, or share your data if it's necessary for a service you requested or for security/fraud prevention, unless you specifically "opt-in" for other uses. This could curb the widespread data mining that fuels targeted advertising and data brokering.

  3. Gives you actionable rights and more control. You can demand to see, delete, or learn exactly who has your data and how it's used. Businesses must respond for free, in a user-friendly format, and can’t discriminate against you for exercising these rights (e.g., by charging more or denying service).

  4. Creates strong enforcement tools. Individuals can sue companies directly for violations (with damages up to $750 per violation), and state/city attorneys can also bring actions with higher penalties. This “private right of action” means companies face real consequences for mishandling your information—even without showing financial harm.

  5. These provisions mean the bill could significantly change how companies operating in New York handle your personal data, giving you more transparency, control, and legal recourse if your privacy is violated.

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Who cares

Headline styles

Protect Personal Data Rights

Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.

Sponsors

Primary sponsor
Leroy Comrie

Senator · Senate District 14

Chair, Corporations, Authorities And Commissions

No co-sponsors yet.

History

  1. Referred to rules

Companion bill

The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.

A7736Assembly

Strengthen Personal Data Privacy

In Assembly Committee · Consumer Affairs And Protection · Sponsor Ron Kim

Impact 9 · Transformational0% to pass

Full text

15 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗

STATE OF NEW YORK

9073

IN SENATE

October 28, 2020

Introduced by Sen. COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules

AN ACT to amend the civil rights law and the general business law, in relation to establishing the "It's Your Data Act"

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "It's Your Data Act".

§ 2. Section 50 of the civil rights law is amended to read as follows:

§ 50. Right of privacy. A person, firm or corporation that collects, stores, and/or uses for the purpose of advertising [purposes, or for the purposes of], trade, data-mining, or generating commercial or economic value, the name, portrait [or], picture, video, voice, likeness, and all other personal data, biometric data, and location data of any living person without having first obtained the written consent of such person, or if a minor of his or her parent or guardian, or, if such consent is obtained, subsequently fails to exercise reasonable care consistent with its obligations as bailee of that individual's name, portrait, picture, video, voice, likeness, and all other personal data, biometric data, and location data, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

§ 3. Section 51 of the civil rights law, as amended by chapter 674 of the laws of 1995, is amended to read as follows:

§ 51. Action for injunction and for damages. Any person [whose name, portrait, picture or voice is used within this state for advertising purposes or for the purposes of trade without the written consent], firm or corporation that collects, stores, and/or uses for the purpose of advertising, trade, data-mining, or generating commercial or economic value, name, portrait, picture, video, voice, likeness, and all other personal data, biometric data, and location data of any living person without having first obtained the written consent of such person, or if a minor of his or her parent or guardian, or, when such consent is obtained, subsequently fails to exercise reasonable care consistent with its obligations as bailee of that individual's name, portrait, picture, video, voice, likeness, and all other personal data, biometric data, and

EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

[ ] is old law to be omitted.

LBD11575-01-9

S. 9073 2

location data first obtained as above provided may maintain an equitable action in the supreme court of this state against the person, firm or corporation so using his or her name, portrait, picture [or], video, voice, likeness, and all other personal data, biometric data, and location data to prevent and restrain the use thereof; and may also sue and recover damages for any injuries sustained by reason of such use and if the defendant shall have knowingly used such person's name, portrait, picture [or], video, voice, likeness, and all other personal data, biometric data, and location data in such manner as is forbidden or declared to be unlawful by section fifty of this article, the jury, in its discretion, may award exemplary damages. But nothing contained in this article shall be so construed as to prevent any person, firm or corporation from selling or otherwise transferring any material containing such name, portrait, picture [or], video, voice, likeness, and all other personal data, biometric data, and location data in whatever medium to any user of such name, portrait, picture [or], video, voice, likeness, and all other personal data, biometric data, and location data or to any third party [for sale] or transfer directly or indirectly to such a user, for use, provided that the transferring party undertakes reasonable steps to ensure that any such use is consistent with the selling or transferring party's obligations as bailee of that individual's name, portrait, picture, video, voice, likeness, and all other personal data, biometric data, and location data and use in a manner lawful under this article; nothing contained in this article shall be so construed as to prevent any person, firm or corporation, practicing the profession of photography, from exhibiting in or about his or its establishment specimens of the work of such establishment, unless the same is continued by such person, firm or corporation after written notice objecting thereto has been given by the person portrayed; and nothing contained in this article shall be so construed as to prevent any person, firm or corporation from using the name, portrait, picture [or], video, voice, likeness, and all other personal data, biometric data, and location data of any manufacturer or dealer in connection with the goods, wares and merchandise manufactured, produced or dealt in by him or her which he or she has sold or disposed of with such name, portrait, picture [or], video, voice, likeness, and all other personal data, biometric data, and location data used in connection therewith; or from using the name, portrait, picture [or], video, voice, likeness, and all other personal data, biometric data, and location data of any author, composer or artist in connection with his or her literary, musical or artistic productions which he or she has sold or disposed of with such name, portrait, picture [or], video, voice, likeness, and all other personal data, biometric data, and location data used in connection therewith. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prohibit the copyright owner of a sound recording from disposing of, dealing in, licensing or selling that sound recording to any party, if the right to dispose of, deal in, license or sell such sound recording has been conferred by contract or other written document by such living person or the holder of such right. Nothing contained in the foregoing sentence shall be deemed to abrogate or otherwise limit any rights or remedies otherwise conferred by federal law or state law.

§ 4. The general business law is amended by adding a new article 32-A to read as follows:

ARTICLE 32-A

IT'S YOUR DATA ACT Section 676. Definitions.

S. 9073 3

676-a. Transparency of the collection, use, retention, and shar-

ing of personal information.

676-b. Fair collection and use of personal information.

676-c. Deletion of personal information.

676-d. Access to retained personal information.

676-e. Access to disclosure of personal information.

676-f. Consent to additional collection or sharing of personal

information.

676-g. No discrimination by a business against a consumer for

exercise of rights.

676-h. Reasonable security.

676-i. Business implementation of duties.

676-j. Exceptions.

676-k. Consumer's private right of action.

676-l. Agency enforcement action.

676-m. Construction.

676-n. Attorney general regulations.

676-o. Intermediate transactions.

676-p. Non-waiver.

676-q. Severability.

§ 676. Definitions. 1. For the purposes of this article:

(a) "Aggregate consumer information" means information that relates to a group of consumers, from which individual consumer identities have been removed, that is not linked or reasonably linkable to any consumer or household, including via a device. Aggregate consumer information does not mean one or more individual consumer records that have been de-identified.

(b) "Biometric information" means an individual's physiological, biological or behavioral characteristics or an electronic representation of such, including an individual's deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), that can be used, singly or in combination with each other or with other identifying data, to establish individual identity. Biometric information includes, but is not limited to, imagery of the iris, retina, fingerprint, face, hand, palm, vein patterns, and voice recordings, from which an identifier template, such as a faceprint, a minutiae template, or a voiceprint, can be extracted, and keystroke patterns or rhythms, gait patterns or rhythms, and sleep, health, or exercise data that contain identifying information.

(c) "Business" means:

(i) A sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, corporation, association, or other legal entity that is organized or operated for the profit or financial benefit of its shareholders or other owners, that collects consumers' personal information, or on the behalf of which such information is collected and that alone, or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of consumers' personal information, that does business in the state of New York, and that satisfies one or more of the following thresholds:

(1) has annual gross revenues in excess of fifty million dollars, as adjusted pursuant to paragraph (f) of subdivision one of section six hundred seventy-six-n of this article;

(2) alone or in combination, annually buys, receives for the business' commercial purposes, sells, or discloses for commercial purposes, alone or in combination, the personal information of fifty thousand or more consumers, households, or devices; or

(3) derives fifty percent or more of its annual revenues from selling consumers' personal information; and

S. 9073 4

(ii) Any entity that controls or is controlled by a business, as defined in subparagraph (i) of this paragraph, and that shares common branding with such business.

(d) "Control" or "controlled" means ownership of, or the power to vote, more than fifty percent of the outstanding shares of any class of voting security of a business; control in any manner over the election of a majority of the directors, or of individuals exercising similar functions; or the power to exercise a controlling influence over the management of a business.

(e) "Common branding" means a shared name, servicemark, or trademark.

(f) "Operational purpose" means the use of personal information when reasonably necessary and proportionate to achieve one of the following operational purposes:

(i) auditing related to a current interaction with the consumer and concurrent transactions, including, but not limited to, counting ad impressions to unique visitors, verifying positioning and quality of ad impressions, and auditing compliance with this paragraph and other standards;

(ii) detecting and responding to security incidents, protecting against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, and prosecuting those responsible for that activity;

(iii) debugging to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality;

(iv) short-term, transient use, provided the personal information is not disclosed to another third party and is not used to build a profile about a consumer or otherwise alter an individual consumer's experience outside the current interaction, including, but not limited to, the contextual customization of ads shown as part of the same interaction;

(v) performing or providing services on behalf of the business or service provider, including maintaining or servicing accounts, billing or collecting for requested products or services, providing customer service, processing or fulfilling orders and transactions, verifying customer information, processing payments, providing financing, providing advertising or marketing services, providing analytic services, or providing similar services on behalf of the business or service provider;

(vi) undertaking internal research for technological development and demonstration;

(vii) undertaking activities to verify or maintain the quality or safety of a service or device that is owned, manufactured, manufactured for, or controlled by the business, or to improve, upgrade, or enhance the service or device that is owned, manufactured, manufactured for, or controlled by the business;

(viii) customization of content; or

(ix) customization of advertising or marketing.

(g) "Collects," "collected," or "collection" means buying, renting, gathering, obtaining, receiving, or accessing any personal information pertaining to a consumer by any means. This shall include, but shall not be limited to, receiving information from the consumer, either actively or passively, or by observing the consumer's behavior.

(h) "Commercial purposes" means to advance a person's commercial or economic interests, such as by inducing another person to buy, rent, lease, join, subscribe to, provide, or exchange products, goods, property, information, or services, or enabling or effecting, directly or indirectly, a commercial transaction. Commercial purposes shall not include engaging in speech that state or federal courts have recognized

S. 9073 5

as noncommercial speech, including, but not limited to, political speech and journalism.

(i) "Consumer" means a natural person who is a resident of the state of New York.

(j) "De-identified" means information that cannot reasonably identify, relate to, describe, be capable of being associated with, or be linked, directly or indirectly, to a particular consumer, provided that a business that uses de-identified information:

(i) takes reasonable measures to ensure that the data is de-identified;

Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.

Sponsor's memo

Title of bill

An act to amend the civil rights law and the general business law, in relation to establishing the "It's Your Data Act"

Purpose or general idea of bill

This bill seeks to establish a duty of care requirement for data extrac- tors & miners, and mandates these entities adhere strictly to this legal obligation when it comes to the sovereignty and privacy of an individ- ual's private information.

Summary of provisions

Section one sets the title as the "Its Your Data Act"

Read the full memo (701 words)

Section two amends section 50 of the civil rights law so any person, firm or corporation that collects, stores, or uses for the purpose of advertising, trade, data-mining, or generating commercial or economic value, the name, portrait, picture, video, voice, likeness, and all other personal data, biometric data, and location data of any living person without having first obtained the written consent of such person, or if a minor of his or her parent or guardian, or, if such consent is obtained, subsequently fails to exercise reasonable care consistent with its obligations as bailee of that individual's name, portrait, picture, video, voice, likeness, and all other personal data, biometric data, and location data, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Section three amends section 51 of the civil rights law to establish the means of redress for individuals whose rights under this act have been violated.

Section four amends the general business law to establish the defi- nitions for terms or phrases used in this act, and introduces the following clauses in relation to this act: "Transparency of the collection , use, retention, and sharing of personal information", "Fair Collection and use of personal information", "Deletion of personal information", " Access to retained personal information", "Access to disclosure of personal information", "Consent to additional collection or sharing of personal information", "No discrimination by a business against a consumer for exercise of rights", "Reasonable security", " Business implementation of duties", "Exceptions", "Consumer's private right of actions", " Agency enforcement action", "Construction", "Attor- ney general regulations", "Intermediate transactions", "Non-waiver", and "Severability".

Section five sets forward an effective date 1 year after enactment.

Justification

In the 21st century, Americans' fundamental right to privacy has steadi- ly eroded in the shadow of surveillance capitalism. The passage of the Patriot Act and the rise of big tech companies have enabled the public and private sector to siphon more and more of our personal data, often without our consent or knowledge. The institutional legitimization of

mass surveillance and data extraction has begun to warp our society's very perspective on individual autonomy and privacy.

The commercial sector of the Internet is now being used in ways that repeatedly wear away an individual's ability to exercise control over his or her life. Every video we watch, every ad we click on, and every word we search is now being logged, analyzed, and synthesized by corpo- rations in order to predict and influence our behaviors as consumers. The internet is no longer a peer-to-peer experiment; it has morphed into a data extraction infrastructure that relies on machine-learning algo- rithms which can ultimately shape our views or control our future actions.

We have to recognize that life in a society of pervasive monitoring is not truly life under the rule of law. Businesses that make hundreds of billions of dollars monitoring every aspect of our daily lives - the essence of Surveillance Capitalism - represent new, unregulated, and dangerous territory. The It's Your Data Act (IYD) is designed to regain individual sovereignty and end abusive and exploitative data-mining practices, so that an individual's inalienable rights includes their right to retain control of their own data under all circumstances.

The IYD Act institutes a duty of care requirement for data extractors & miners, and mandates that they strictly adhere to this legal obligation when it comes to the sovereignty and privacy of a person's private information. Our data is more than alienable property that can be sold to the highest bidder.

Prior legislative history

This is a new bill.

Fiscal implications for state and local governments

To be determined.

Effective date

This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become law.

Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.