If you’re concerned about protecting your personal data collected by corporations, then I have a new law for you.
The Texas Data Privacy and Security Act takes effect July 1.
On that date, Texans will gain a series of rights and benefits previously kept from us.
Let me show you an example of how it works. You shop for groceries at XYZ, so the store knows what you buy. Maybe that data is sold to a data broker who can tell from what you buy if you’re rich or poor and a whole lot more.
This disturbs you enough that you go to the XYZ website and tell the company you want access to all the data it has collected on you.
Once you download the data to your device, you can do one of four things:
You can edit the data. You can correct the data. You can ask that all data, past, present and future on you is deleted. And finally, you can choose to do nothing.
If the company is slow in responding, you can file a complaint with a new crew of data lawyers operating out of the Texas attorney general’s office.
Companies not responding will get a chance to address the problem. If they’re slow, investigators come into play.
Bill sponsor and state Rep. Giovanni “Gio” Capriglione, R-Southlake, points out that with 1,000 customers, a $7,500 fine per customer adds up to $7.5 million in fines.
$11 million
Gio says he believes his law will be a success because of the $11 million funded for it by the Legislature. This shows that lawmakers weren’t paying lip service to privacy, he says.
Out of $11 million, $7 million will pay for lawyers and investigators. The other $4 million will pay for the creation of the state-run website where complaints can be filed.
I’d like to tell you the name of the new website, but as of this writing, it has not been disclosed.
Applies to whom?
Here is the broad range of businesses it applies to, according to an analysis by the Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld law firm.
Subject to this law is any company that conducts business in Texas or produces a product or service consumed by Texas residents.
Any company that processes or engages in the sale of personal data.
And any company that is not a small business as defined by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Exceptions
Are there exceptions? Of course. It’s almost a rule in Texas government that there are always exceptions.
Some of the exemptions allow the following to be collected: protected health data and records; certain patient identifying information; personal data subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act; student privacy and data collected for job applications and benefits.
More exemptions: nonprofits; state agencies and political subdivisions; some financial institutions; entities governed by HIPAA privacy laws; institutions of higher education; electric utilities; power generation companies and retail electric providers.
Get your data
In an interview, Gio recommended that I tell you to go to the major data collectors — Facebook/Meta, X/Twitter and Google — to request your data.
“If you do that you’re going to be shocked at what information they collected,” he warned.
The Watchdog tried it. Starting with Facebook, I easily found instructions to download my personal information. But the download, which can take up to 24 hours, was not complete as of this writing. (More fodder for a future column by The Watchdog).
Will the new law work? Don’t expect miracles on Day 1. Setting up a new website by any government on deadline can be an ugly process. Remember HealthCare.gov?
But if it does work and consumers request their data and companies work harder and spend more money to be data-friendly, this could be a privacy/data game changer.
