It’s frustrating when legislative bodies act on a hunch with no evidence to back up a proposed solution. But that’s exactly what’s happening with HB 262. 

The Delaware Department of Justice has no documentation of any Delawarean complaining about the data practices of your companies—none. In addition, the Department is an enforcement agency with broad powers, yet they have no record of fines or penalties they’ve levied on any businesses that violated its own data policy. 

This bill asks you to pay a fee to the Department so they can hire two additional staff members and create a website you are required to visit to summarize your privacy policy, all with the belief that consumers will visit the site, read the summaries, and comparison shop based not on price or service quality, but your privacy policy. I don’t believe Delawareans will do this.

Furthermore, the bill contains a “private right of action” which means you should prepare to defend yourself not just against the Department, but any private citizen that thinks you wronged them. 

It's 2022 and every business that collects customer data should be clear and transparent about what they collect, what they do with that information, who they share or sell it to, and what’s in it for you—the consumer.

Many chambers of commerce, the Delaware Business Roundtable, the Delaware Alliance for Nonprofit Advancement, the Delaware Restaurant Association, and others oppose this bill. There are 57,000 licensed businesses in this state. Thousands sell and have sold consumer data for decades and have never been criticized nor harmed anyone. They use this information to solve problems, innovate, or create new products or services people value. 

Lots of housing data this week with building permits and housing starts numbers for March released on Tuesday. On Wednesday, several regional Fed presidents offer remarks, while March existing homes sales results become public. The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey for April and leading economic indicators for March are economic headlines for Thursday. Jobs data and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks before the IMF on the global economy are Thursday events too. 

Bank of America, Charles Schwab, and J.B. Hunt Transport Services are among the companies with earnings calls today. Johnson & Johnson, Netflix, Citizens Financial Group, Fulton Financial, Haliburton, Hasbro, and Lockheed Martin are scheduled to host calls on Tuesday. Tesla is the headliner for Wednesday, joined by Abbott Laboratories, Alcoa, CSX, Kinder Morgan, Procter & Gamble, and United Airlines. American Airlines, Boston Beer, Dow, Freeport-McMoRan, Marsh & McLennan, PPG Industries, Union Pacific, American Express, Kimberly-Clark, and Verizon Communications are among the others that round out a busy week of earnings calls.  

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