Page 3 - AT

A3
U.S. NEWS Thursday 14 February 2019

Continued from Front is worth $7.37 to the com- sumers, while some sort of
Common Sense Media, pany, while a Twitter user is profit-sharing plan would
which helped pass Califor- worth $2.83, and a Reddit likely return a "pittance of a
nia's nation-leading digital user, about 30 cents. The benefit" to individuals.
privacy law last year, plans calculation basically divid- Facebook co-founder Chris
to propose legislation in ed the companies' annual Hughes last year suggested
coming weeks that would revenue by their monthly that users could band to-
reflect Newsom's proposal, active users. gether to negotiate pay-
founder and CEO James California-based tech gi- ments or a data tax could
Steyer said, without provid- ants Facebook and Google be administered, similar to
ing details. did not immediately com- a fund that annually shares
Starting next year, Califor- ment. oil profits with Alaska resi-
nia's European-style privacy Newsom's office would not dents.
law will require companies say who is leading his re- Consumer Federation of
to tell customers upon re- view. Newsom "is open to California executive direc-
quest what personal data constructive input" from na- tor Richard Holober hailed
they have collected and tional experts and lawmak- the proposal while alluding
why, which categories of ers, spokesman Brian Fergu- to the vast financial divide California Gov. Gavin Newsom poses for a selfie with Los An-
third parties have received son said in a statement. between rich and poor, geles area Democratic lawmakers, Assemblywoman Blanca
Rubio, left and her sister state Sen. Susan Rubio, right, after de-
it, and allow consumers to The governor's office point- particularly in California, livering his first State of the State address to a joint session of the
delete their information ed to proposals elsewhere which is struggling to ad- legislature at the Capitol Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, in Sacramento,
and not sell it. that would put a tax on dress homelessness and an Calif.
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner of data, including one that affordable housing crisis.q Associated Press
Virginia, ranking Democrat died in the Washington
on the Senate Intelligence state Legislature in 2017.
Committee, predicted in That measure would have
November that California taxed receipts from the
would consider legislation sale of state residents' per-
that would "send a shiver sonal data at a rate of 3.3
down the spine" of tech percent.
companies. Mahsau Daee of the Inter-
He described the proposal net Association said the in-
as returning 25 percent of dustry will look forward to
the value of an individual's reviewing the governor's
data. It wasn't clear how eventual proposal but that
the calculation would be "free and low-cost, data-
made. driven online services of-
Warner's office said fer Californians — and all
Wednesday that he made Americans — enormous
the comment after speak- benefits."
ing with Steyer. Jeffrey Chester, executive
Warner is considering fed- director of the Center for
eral legislation requiring Digital Democracy, said
companies like California- Newsom "is off to the wrong
based Facebook and start" on protecting con-
Google to provide users sumer privacy.
with annual estimates of "They shouldn't be tricked
what their data is worth to into giving away their pri-
the companies. vacy for a small discount,"
Steyer said in a statement he said in an email. "Selling
that Newsom is "spot on" it for a few bucks isn't the
about consumers having answer and will make the
the "right to share in the problem worse."
profits that companies are Dan Goldstein, president
making off them." the digital marketing agen-
Axios calculated that the cy Page 1 Solutions, said a
average Facebook user tax might not benefit con-