Texas legislature is 10th state to pass a consumer data privacy bill

On Sunday, the Texas state legislature passed a data privacy bill. The legislation comes alongside a series of similar bills across the United States, with Texas’ being the 5th to pass in 2023 alone. 

The bill broadly seeks to bolster consumers’ data privacy protections, but falls short of what’s needed to reform a broken system. The bill requires qualifying companies to notify customers that their data may be sold, and requires the state to provide an opt-out mechanism for the sale of personal data and targeted advertising. 

That means this bill does not prevent the excessive data collection that underpins today’s internet, and also burdens consumers with the responsibility of opting out themselves. It’s time to change our approach to data privacy. Regulators should limit companies from collecting data they don’t need in order to deliver the service consumers are expecting to get.