Congress gives you a delete button for your data across all brokers

What it does

This bill creates a federal system allowing people to request deletion of their personal information from all registered data brokers in one place. Data brokers must register with the FTC, disclose what data they collect, and comply with deletion requests within 31 days using a hashed-registry system that protects privacy during the matching process. The FTC enforces compliance and data brokers pay an annual fee (capped at 1% of system operating costs) to access the deletion registry.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core mechanism is a federally mandated deletion right and centralized system for individuals to control their personal data held by commercial data brokers. This is a consumer protection measure, not a tax provision, subsidy, or commemorative act.

What the text implies

• The hashed-registry system allows data brokers to query whether a persistent identifier is subject to a deletion request BEFORE collecting data, potentially enabling brokers to preemptively avoid collecting data on individuals who have filed deletion requests—a privacy benefit not explicitly stated in the title.
• Annual fees paid by data brokers to the FTC (capped at 1% of system operating costs) create a dedicated funding stream for FTC enforcement and system maintenance, reducing reliance on general appropriations and potentially strengthening long-term enforcement capacity.

The full analysis lists 5 implications of this text.

Who it affects

Ordinary citizens gain a concrete, enforceable right to delete their personal information across all data brokers through a single request, addressing a major asymmetry in data collection power. The centralized system with hashed registries protects privacy during the deletion process while ensuring compliance, and the FTC's enforcement authority provides teeth to the requirement.