Montana lawmakers look at consumer-data proposal

A House panel heard a bill Tuesday that would require companies to divulge the personal information they glean from consumers and to which entities they sell the information.

House Bill 572 http://laws.leg.mt.gov/legprd/LAW0203W$BSRV.ActionQuery?P_SESS=20131&P_BLTP_BILL_TYP_CD=HB&P_BILL_NO=572&P_BILL_DFT_NO=&P_CHPT_NO=&Z_ACTION=Find&P_SBJT_SBJ_CD=&P_ENTY_ID_SEQ= would give consumers the option to request the personal information an entity has collected about them. Rep. Bryce Bennett, D- Missoula http://www.leg.mt.gov/css/Sessions/63rd/leg_info.asp?HouseID=0&SessionID=107&LAWSID=13032 , told the House Business and Labor Committee the data collected by companies belongs to the consumers.

"The reality is … there are these big companies that are doing this. They openly admit to doing this," Bennett said. "They are taking our data and selling it."

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