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By JOELLE TESSLER, AP Technology Writer
      

WASHINGTON (AP) - A new Senate bill introduced Tuesday would
establish a "privacy bill of rights" to set ground rules for
companies that collect consumer data, including personal data
amassed on the Internet and then mined to target online
advertising.


      The bill, sponsored by Democrat John Kerry of Massachusetts and
Republican John McCain of Arizona, would create a "baseline code
of conduct" to govern the use of information that could identify a
particular individual or a particular computer or smartphone. 


It
would establish a framework for how this data could be collected,
used, stored and shared with third parties such as online
advertising networks.


      The proposal aims to address growing unease about the vast
amounts of personal information that companies are scooping up on
the Internet -- including Web browsing habits, smartphone locations
and Facebook preferences. That data is seen as a goldmine for
marketers, and consumers have little control over what happens to
it.


      "Companies can harvest our personal information online ... and
they can do whatever they want ... and we have no legal right to
stop it," Kerry said.


      The bill comes several months after the Commerce Department
called for the creation of a "privacy bill of rights" for
Internet users, and after the Federal Trade Commission recommended
the creation of a "Do Not Track" tool to let consumers stop or
restrict advertisers from studying their online activity to target
ads.

      It also comes just two weeks after the FTC reached a landmark
agreement with Google Inc. to settle charges that it deceived users
and violated its own privacy policy when it launched a social
networking service called Buzz last year. The settlement requires
Google to adopt a comprehensive privacy program and submit to
independent audits of that program every other year for the next 20
years.

      The new legislation would require companies to clearly disclose
how they collect and use personal data -- including whether they
share it with online advertising networks -- and give users the
opportunity to turn off this data collection through an "opt-out"
choice. 


It would also require companies to obtain explicit user
consent before collecting sensitive personal information, such
health or financial data.

      In addition, the bill would require companies to establish
strong data security protections for personal data, and to give
users an opportunity to review and correct mistakes in their
information. 


The rules, which would apply to any company that
collects data on more than 5,000 people in a one-year period, would
be enforced by the FTC and state attorneys general.

      The bill also opens the door to a form of industry
self-regulation by granting immunity from the law to companies that
abide by voluntary privacy programs approved by the FTC. The bill
directs the Commerce Department to help develop such programs.


      Reaction to the new legislation was mixed.
    


  A number of big technology companies, including Intel Corp.,
Hewlett-Packard Co., Microsoft Corp., eBay Inc., AT&T and Verizon
Communications Inc., praised the bill.
     

 "The proposed framework is a great start toward modernizing
privacy rules for the Internet age," Verizon said in


 a statement.
      But several privacy watchdog groups complained that it would not
go far enough, in part because it would not mandate the creation of
a "Do Not Track" tool.

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A new Senate bill introduced Tuesday would
establish a "privacy bill of rights" to set ground rules for
companies that collect consumer data, including personal data
amassed on the Internet and then mined to target online
advertising.

Google logo is photographed on a camera phone

U.S. Senate bill would set consumer privacy rights

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