Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a coauthor of the Section 230 provision that shields internet companies from liability for content posted on their platforms, announced in an interview with The Verge[1] that he plans to introduce new legislation in the coming weeks.
According to the senator, the bill, “The Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale,” would outline a plan to ban the government from buying information that would otherwise require a court order or a warrant.
“The point of this bill is to build on my earlier legislation, the Mind Your Own Business Act, and be very specific about making sure that you just don’t have this backdoor to throw in the Fourth Amendment in the trash can,” Sen. Wyden said.
The aim is to challenge the surveillance of personal data by the U.S. government authorities without proper legal basis. The move is timely, as the European Court of Justice recently ruled that the data transfer mechanism between the U.S. and the European Union—Privacy Shield—is invalid due to the U.S. surveillance state.[2]