Good work so far!  Think about what could happen if there was a federal law mirroring the GDPR effective in the U.S., similar to the new California Consumer Privacy law.  Do you think such a law could create a legal property right in an individual’s personal data? Why or why not? In either event, how would such a law affect the collection of data containing personal identifying information in the U.S.? Could the U.S. E-commerce business model be affected; and, if so how? Discuss.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is seen as a relatively new data privacy law that has been added to some compliance requirements for a number of businesses in the United States. The GDPR has been seen to join the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Compliance, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) as one more piece of the data compliance puzzle that should be solved. The California Privacy and Protection Law (CPP) was passed in the year 2018 it specifically mirrors the GDPR as it was modeled on it. The privacy law will certainly grant the consumers more and definite control over and particular insight and awareness into the spread of their personal information online. A federal law that will mirror the GDPR will ensure that the citizen’s privacy is respected and that there is solid control over the data being collected by the technological companies in the U.S.A. Just like CPP the federal law mirroring the GDPR will grant the consumers the right to understand and to know the appropriate information that companies are collecting about them, the why they are collecting the data and with whom they are sharing the collected data with. The federal law will also ensure that the consumers can dictate or possess the right to tell the companies they get into contracts with to delete their personal and private data as well as not to share or sell their data. Consumers who opt out of specific transactions and business engagements should be given the same quality of data and their private data protected. I strongly believe that such a legislation will give the consumers the right to sue some companies after a data breach. It will also give more power and authority to government officials like the attorney general to fine companies that do not adhere to new regulations.

Such a law will certainly be a step forward and it will be appreciated in all its might and the positive things that will emanate from it. As the world faces serious technological advancements, businesses can only expect more and more regulations around the user and handling of consumer data. In my opinion I believe the effect of the federal law on E-commerce will certainly be on how to navigate the increasingly complex set of laws. Serious and detrimental effects will certainly be due to non-compliance and violations of that federal law, as such offenses will have the potential to be insurmountable for business and putting the existence of specific businesses at risk. It will also be beneficial for online sellers as they will now be able to manage all customer data, including demographic information and the behavioral data as well as the customer preference.