National DELETE Act included in privacy discussions

Congress could soon mirror an effort already underway in California designed to give consumers more control over their personal information and the ability to have it deleted by data brokers.

Among a bevy of privacy bills debated last week by a House subcommittee, lawmakers discussed the DELETE Act, which would require the Federal Trade Commission to establish a centralized system allowing individuals to request data brokers delete their information. Under current law people must go to each data broker individually and request that their data be deleted.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed his state’s version of the bill in October. It is broader than the federal proposal, in that it requires data brokers to register with the California Privacy Protection Agency and disclose the types of personal information they collect. It also mandates CPPA create a free and simple way for state residents to have their personal information deleted.

The bipartisan DELETE Act was introduced last year by Rep. Lori Trahan, a Democrat from Massachusetts, alongside several of her colleagues from the House and Senate.

Trahan called the legislation a “common sense proposal,” She said it is necessary due to the national security concerns over how “data brokers harvest and sell some of our most sensitive data to the highest bidder, including our foreign adversaries.”

The legislation has received plenty of public backing too. Just before the start of the hearing a coalition of 20 digital rights organizations released a letter endorsing the DELETE Act. They argued that the “vast majority of people do not want sensitive personal information that can be used to harm and harass them publicly listed and sold across the internet.”

“Like Californians, who will receive a data broker opt-out option in 2026, everyone in the US deserves a one-click opt out to tell these data brokers to stop putting us and our loved ones in danger for profit,” the letter said. “And we need it quickly, before AI supercharges both data broker-enabled scams and the bulk collection of sensitive personal data for brokers to exploit.”

The American Privacy Rights Act also contains provisions that allow people to fight back against data brokers by requesting their data be deleted, albeit with each individual broker. In his opening remarks at the hearing, Rep. Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat and the ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, noted that the current draft also “directs the FTC to create a single mechanism that would allow consumers to opt out of future data collection by all data brokers.”

Pallone noted, though, that previous iterations of national privacy legislation went further in creating a “universal deletion mechanism” that would allow consumers to delete their data held by all data brokers.

Trahan voiced similar concerns about the bill’s current language, saying APRA’s provisions may “not fully meet the needs of American users.” Under APRA, she said, someone wishing to have data brokers delete any information on them would be required to ask every broker individually. That would require visiting more than 800 data brokers’ websites, she said.

Samir Jain, a witness at the hearing and vice president of policy at the Center for Democracy and Technology, agreed. Under questioning from Trahan, he called for a “centralized mechanism so that consumers can in one shot ask data brokers to delete their data.”

“Otherwise, we have to go from data broker to data broker, which is impossible, because most of us don’t know who the data brokers are,” he added.

Other supporters of APRA said it would help Americans take back ownership of their data.

“Today we find ourselves at a crossroads,” said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Washington Republican and chair of the full committee, during her opening remarks. “We can either continue down the path we’re on, letting companies and bad actors continue to collect troves of our data unchecked while they trample on core American values, like free expression, free speech, and identity, or we can give people the right to control their information online.”

Witnesses said that by giving ordinary people more transparency on how companies collect and use data about them will shed light on potential discrimination. Individuals will be able to “make empowered choices” if they can “access, correct or delete their data,” said David Brody, Managing Attorney of the Digital Justice Initiative at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

“[Americans] can choose to access and correct their data, opening pathways to self-sufficient fixes for inaccurate background check reports, which disproportionately harm Black and Brown people,” Brody said in his written testimony. “[They] can reduce their data footprint, or take away their data from insecure third parties, minimizing the risk of fraud, identity theft, and exploitation. Or they can port their data to another company that will give them better service.”