After years of debate about the issue, Florida lawmakers Thursday passed a wide-ranging bill that supporters said would boost online data privacy.
“We are doing so much for the protection of both children and all Floridians when it comes to where our private information is going and how it’s being treated and giving us some control over our digital identity again,” House sponsor Fiona McFarland, R-Sarasota, told House members. “This is a really, really big deal, guys.”
The bill (SB 262), which focuses on large online companies, drew heavy lobbying throughout the legislative session. Negotiations on the details continued into Thursday, the next-to-last day of the session.
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The Senate voted unanimously to support the final version. The House approved it in a 110-2 vote, with Rep. Kristen Arrington, D-Kissimmee, and Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, dissenting.
The bill deals with issues such as targeted advertising.
Among other things, McFarland said the bill would give people the right to “opt out of collection of our sensitive data, as well as any personal information that’s collected like voice- or facial-recognition technology.”
The bill is ready to go to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
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