The US is working on a new set of consumer privacy rules which aim to provide high levels of protections for individuals while ensuring organisations are transparent about how they use personal information.

In a statement, the US Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) confirmed it had started a public consultation on a proposal to develop new consumer data privacy rules, with feedback expected by 26 October.

NTIA said it is seeking comments covering a range of potential outcomes including transparancy about how organisations collect, use, share and store users’ personal information. Companies should also look to minimise the data they use, store and share in proportion to the potential risks; and take steps to manage the dangers of disclosure or harmful use of personal data.

Users, in turn, should also be able to exercise control over the personal information they provide to organisations, as well as reasonably access and correct personal data they have provided.

NTIA’s move comes after California became the first US state to implement data protection regulation along with the introduction of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation in May.

“The United States has a long history of protecting individual privacy, but our challenges are growing as technology becomes more complex, interconnected, and integrated into our daily lives,” said David Redl, NTIA administrator and assistant secretary of commerce for Communications and Information.

Google under fire
NTIA’s consultation comes at a time of increased concern around data privacy in the US.

Internet giant Google has featured heavily in recent scrutiny and will admit to errors regarding privacy in a testimony due to be delivered to a US senate committee later today (26 September), Reuters reported.

However, the written testimony prepared by the company will not go into specific detail over which mistakes it is admitting to, Reuters stated.

Most recently, Google parent Alphabet was accused of illegally tracking the movements of millions of iPhone and Android users even after they used privacy settings to prevent it.

In recent days, concerns have also been raised about how its Chrome browser stores data on users’ browsing activity which is then synchronised with data from other devices.

The company has said it will make changes to address the concerns.