Senators John Kerry and John McCain introduced an Internet privacy bill that would require companies to clearly spell out the types of data collected from consumers online, how it’s used and require corporate safeguards from hackers and other criminals.

The bill, backed by the Obama Administration, would also create a Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights which would give consumers more control over how their personal data is collected and shared among third parties. Should the bill become law, it would affect well-known online heavyweights such as Google and Facebook, as well as less-conspicuous marketing firms such as Epsilon.

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz is visiting the Consumer Reports bat cave in Yonkers, NY, today, where he’s speaking with our Executive Editor Meghann Marco. If we can get him to stop talking about that “Friday” song, we hope to have his thoughts on the bill later.

Kerry, McCain offer bill to protect Web users’ privacy rights [Washington Post]
John McCain, John Kerry introduce contentious U.S. privacy bill [Reuters]
Washington Takes Up Internet Privacy [Time]

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