Minority Whip Filippi Calls for Greater Protection for Victims of Data Breaches

House Minority Whip Blake A. Filippi (Block Island, Charlestown, South Kingstown and Westerly), has introduced legislation requiring companies to notify Rhode Islanders of any security breaches related to their personal information.
This comes after millions of American’s personal data was stolen in data breaches at companies like Equifax, Target, and Uber. House bill 7387 would require that any company, which experiences a security breach, notify their customers immediately of the situation without unreasonable delay. Any company failing to do would be in violation of Rhode Island’s unfair trade practices statute and may face fines up to $150,000 per data breach.
“These companies are storing extremely sensitive information and, for the most part, their customers have no say in how things are handled. If there’s a problem, the victims have a right to know as quickly as possible so they can protect themselves,” said Rep. Filippi.