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What You Should Know About New U.S. Data Privacy Rules

The U.S. FTC is asking the public to comment on whether it should issue new rules on commercial surveillance (a.k.a. the business of collecting and profiting from personal data). Meanwhile, Congress is considering legislation to create a U.S. version of the GDPR. Robert Rose explains what these data privacy developments will mean for content marketers.

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(Aired: August 19, 2022)

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Well, hello there, content marketers. It seems the U.S. government is finally catching up to the rest of the world. Maybe it’s finally winding down some of those other things it’s been investigating (but I digress).

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is finally taking action and has taken up an inquiry into all this data, advertising, marketing, and whatnot. Could it be that we’ll get a distinctly American version of the GDRP? (If we do, you know it’ll be called Freedom Data.)

This is the news you need to lead in content marketing.

Hello everybody, Robert Rose here with the news. It’s what’s new, but (more importantly) what’s important in the world of content marketing. It’s the news you need To lead in the practice of content marketing and strategy.  And for the best in best practices, you can always go to contentmarketinginstitute.com.

So, we are finally hearing from the FTC about launching a full-scale rulemaking effort on the topic of businesses that are using consumer data for targeting and, well, other purposes.

The FTC this week announced that it is exploring rules to crack down on commercial surveillance – which they define as the business of collecting, analyzing, and profiting from information about people.

They’re now seeking comments from the public (that ought to turn out well) on a wide range of concerns about commercial data surveillance practices, including third-party cookies, tracking across websites, collecting personal data (such as race, gender, and religion) and using it for targeting advertising and all manner of what we’ve been talking about for years.

Now there is legislation already being considered that covers this – kind of an American version of the GDPR. It’s called the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (the ADPPA for those keeping up with the acronym soup). The ADDPA was voted on by the Energy and Commerce Committee back in July.  So last week, it made it to the House floor, and we may see some action on this in the coming days.

But here’s the thing: the American Data Privacy and Protection act, as it currently stands, is about as close to the GDPR, the California Consumer Privacy Act, or anything resembling hardened privacy legislation as the U.S. Constitution is to the fun facts on the underside of a Snapple lid.

Related: GDPR: The Biggest Gift to Content Marketers in a Decade

Our take at CMI: We welcome it. We’ve been predicting for some time that the U.S. would finally get around to making this a priority. With Google announcing yet another delay in the disappearance of the third-party cookie and the relative uncertainty now about what data can and can’t be collected, a national law on this is not only overdue – but arguably so late as to be harming the market.

Here’s hoping that we get something that provides even more of a reason for marketers to lean into the proper way to collect first-party data that adds value to our business and helps the consumer.

Passing this kind of legislation would further bolster the business case for content marketing. We’re following the whole thing very closely.

Related: How To Make a Better Case for Content Marketing

And that’s it. That’s three minutes of news you need to lead in content marketing. I’m Robert Rose. Remember, it’s your story. Tell it well.  I’ll see you next week.

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