A new bill wants to send tech executives to jail for up to 20 years if they lie about their companies' data practices.

The harsh penalty is part of the "Mind Your Own Business Act," a new privacy bill US Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) unveiled on Thursday. The threat of jail time is intended to dissuade tech companies and their corporate leadership from abusing people's personal data.

In announcing the bill, Wyden specifically called out Facebook, which was slapped with a $5 billion FTC fine in July for privacy violations related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. At the time, Wyden slammed that fine as a "sweetheart deal" that failed to hold Facebook and CEO Mark Zuckerberg accountable for misusing data.

"Mark Zuckerberg won't take Americans' privacy seriously unless he feels personal consequences. A slap on the wrist from the FTC won't do the job, so under my bill he'd face jail time for lying to the government," the US Senator said in a statement today.

Mark Zuckerberg won't take Americans' privacy seriously unless he feels personal consequences for lying about his failure to protect your data.



I just introduced a bill that would put execs in jail when they lie to the government about how they protect consumers' data. https://t.co/HyftNQfweY — Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) October 17, 2019

Under Wyden's bill, major companies that store the personal information of more than 50 million consumers must submit an annual data protection report to the FTC showing their compliance with US privacy regulations. If senior executives at the company are ever found to be lying about something on the report, the FTC then has the power to jail them for 10 to 20 years. The companies can also face fines of up to 4 percent of their total annual revenue for privacy violations. In addition, tax penalties can be levied against companies if corporate leadership lies about their privacy protections.

According to Wyden, the legislation is designed to create the "strongest-ever protections" for Americans on their private digital data. To do this, the bill calls for the creation of a national "Do Not Track" system so US consumers can easily tell companies and online advertisers to stop collecting and sharing their personal data. The same system will enable consumers to review what personal information companies have on them, and who it's being shared with.

Interestingly, Wyden's legislation calls for major tech companies that make money by selling or sharing consumer data to create a "privacy-friendly version of their product,for which they can charge a reasonable fee." Low-income consumers who are eligible for the FCC's Lifeline program will not have to pay.

Whether Wyden's bill has any chance of actually passing remains to be seen. However, both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have been slamming the major tech companies on a whole range of issues, including data privacy, content moderation, and whether they hold too much power over the digital economy. Facebook itself is facing antitrust probes from federal regulators and state attorneys general.

Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Wyden's bill.

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