The Right to Know Act (SB 1502), proposed by Sheriff Tom Dart and sponsored by Sen. Michael Hastings, was passed by the Illinois Senate this afternoon on a partisan line with one GOP member voting “yes.” 31 senators voted in favor of the bill, 21 voted opposed to the measure and one member voted present. Six members of the senate did not vote on the bill.
The Right to Know Act seeks to allow consumers transparency into the categories of personal information that companies are collecting and to which third parties they are selling it.
“It’s high time that we consider the privacy rights of Illinois consumers on at least an equal measure to the profits of the companies that take and sell their personal data,” Sheriff Dart said. “I thank all of the senators who voted for and passed this important bill.”
The Illinois House version of the bill (HB 2774), sponsored by Rep. Art Turner, was voted out of its respective House committee last week and is awaiting a vote on the House floor.
“This is a key first step in giving more data transparency to the citizens of Illinois,” added Sen. Hastings. “A vote no on this bill is a vote against constituents’ privacy rights.”
According to a statewide poll commissioned by The Data Privacy Alliance (DPA) and conducted by Illinois Public Opinion Strategies, there is fervent opposition from Illinois residents when it comes to personal data collection by corporations.
More than 94 percent of those polled said they disapprove of corporations collecting, sharing, or selling personal data.
More than 80 percent said they would use the law and request the names of the companies that have obtained personal data.