Civil Rights

Tyler Daye of Common Cause North Carolina said the legislation, if enacted, could be used to punish bystanders or speakers whose words inadvertently incite violence. “If a riot takes place, some innocent, peaceful protesters may be interwoven with intruders who have come to hijack their message,” Daye said.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the important voting rights case Wednesday, Dec. 7. 

“We are glad to see that the American Data Privacy and Protection Act is going to a full committee markup, and that Republican and Democratic leadership on the House Energy & Commerce Committee has come together on a comprehensive privacy proposal to protect our data online," Common Cause media and democracy program director Yosef Getachew said. Watchdog group Common Cause is particularly heartened by the inclusion of civil-rights protections, given that privacy and data abuses have hit minority communities particularly hard, the organization said.

On Wednesday July 20, 2022, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a markup of the “American Data Privacy and Protection Act” (H.R. 8152). The bill would establish a comprehensive national data privacy and data security framework. Among other provisions, the framework includes: data minimization provisions that will prevent companies from collecting consumer data beyond what is necessary to provide products or services; individual rights allowing consumers to access, correct, and delete their data; and civil rights protections that prohibit discriminatory data practices. The legislation is the first comprehensive privacy bill to gain bipartisan and bicameral support.