New data protection laws in Colorado, California and Virginia may not seem at first glance to help consumers, but experts say their overall impact on how consumer data is processed could lead to changes at the federal level.
GDPR explained: how the new data protection law could change your life
Colorado is the latest state in the United States to pass comprehensive data privacy laws that govern how companies handle people’s sensitive data. Colorado’s new legislation forces companies to comply with consumer requests to delete sensitive information. It also forces companies to ask for consent to retain data like social security numbers and more.
While these laws only affect state residents, experts say the success of bills like the Colorado Privacy Act (and similar bills in California and Virginia) could lead to sweeping changes at the federal level.
“These state laws are important because they put increasing pressure on Congress to finally act on a federal data privacy law, while simultaneously establishing a blueprint for what such legislation should look like at the federal level,” Attila Tomaschek, a researcher and privacy expert at ProPrivacy, told Lifewire in an email.
