In light of the quiet data transfers happening between technology companies and the government, the Federal Trade Commission is proposing an “industrywide initiative” that would give customers access to the information a company has on them, according to a report from the New York Times. The initiative, called “Reclaim Your Name,” would increase the transparency of what data is not only held by companies, but what is shared between them.

Several big companies including Apple, Microsoft, and Google adhere to record requests in compliance with the law, and Verizon was discovered handing over a swath of cellphone metadata to the agency as well. While the FTC doesn’t seek to stand between the NSA and those data morsels, it does seem to believe it's fair for customers to know what data companies hold on them (and thus what could be potentially handed over in the event of a government request).

Most businesses tend to hoard all the information they can. Julie Brill, a member of the FTC, pointed out that we “ask questions about intimate medical conditions on WebMD" and that "Google Maps, Twitter, and Foursquare know where we are. Uber, Capital BikeShare, and Metro’s trip planner know where we’re going and how we plan to get there." Not only is this data collected, but it is often shared with third-party advertisers (and often anonymized to limited effect).

As a solution, Brill suggests legislation that would “require data brokers to provide notice, access, and correction rights to consumers scaled to the sensitivity and use of the data at issue.” Big data can coexist with Do Not Track, Brill said. It’s just a matter of “a system that empowers consumers to make real choices about how their private information will be used.”