Have you ever wondered how much personal information Google or Facebook has about you? If you have, you certainly wouldn't be the first one. In Europe, a student named Max Schrems requested that Facebook disclose all the information the social network had on him and he received a stack of 1,222 pages.

In the United States there is no legal requirement for companies to disclose such information to their customers. But that could be the case for just a matter of time, as a lawmaker in California is introducing a bill in the state Assembly to update the state's data collection and privacy laws.

The "Right to Know Act of 2013" would be the first law of its kind in the United States. It was introduced at the end of February by Democratic assembly member Bonnie Lowenthal, and it was amended on Monday in the California Assembly.

As it currently stands, the bill would basically compel companies to disclose, upon request, what data about a customer they hold and with whom they have shared it in the past year. The law defines "customer" as "an individual who is a resident of California." Companies would have to send, free of charge, a copy of all that data to the customer, and they would have 30 days to comply with the request.

For Lowenthal, these changes are necessary to keep the law up to date with changing times.

"Today, our personal data is everywhere — we share it when using mobile phone apps, search engines and websites like Facebook and Twitter. Companies buy and sell it for profit," Lowenthal said in a press release. "As technology advances, so should our consumer protections."

Currently, under the law of the Golden State, a customer can request that a company disclose what data it holds on him or her — but only data used for direct marketing purposes. For example, the customer's postal address or phone number which are used to send pamphlets or make telemarketing calls are subject to the disclosure requirement.

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Online rights advocacy group the Electronic Frontier Foundation lobbied for and applauded the initiative. "The new proposal brings California's outdated transparency law into the digital age, making it possible for California consumers to request an accounting of all the ways their personal information is being trafficked —including with online advertisers, data brokers, and third-party apps," wrote Rainey Reitman, the EFF's activism director, on a blog post.

Noting that this type of legislation already exists in Europe, the EFF argued that the law should not represent an excessive burden for big tech companies, which "should already have systems in place to facilitate user access."

For the group, the law is not about putting new restrictions on data sharing or data collection. Rather, the aim is to aid "consumers, regulators, policymakers, and the world at large shine a light onto the largely hidden, highly lucrative world of the personal data economy," Reitman wrote.

Though it would only be a state law, if passed, the legislation could have a serious ripple effect. After California passed a data breach notification law in 2002, 46 states followed suit.

When contacted, Facebook declined to comment on the legislation. Mashable also reached out to Google, but we're still waiting on a response.

Image via iStockphoto, Nikada