Springfield is at it again. Another year, another mandate on job creators. House Bill 2774 / Senate Bill 1502, the “Right to Know” bill, would rack up thousands of dollars in unnecessary costs and hundreds in extra employee hour for small business owners.
INCREASED COSTS TO SMALL BUSINESSES, EMPLOYEE TRAINING AND INSURANCE
The proposed legislation would require small businesses across our state to create massive databases of personal information about their online customers/users that would not otherwise have to create or collect. Many businesses will also have to pay extra to keep these databases secure from hackers and identity thieves, hire or train staff to respond to consumer requests and purchase more insurance in case of a data breach.
ADDITIONAL BURDEN OF ID PROOF ON CONSUMERS
In order to properly safeguard against the likely fraudulent consumer info requests, small businesses will be forced to require consumers to provide photo identification and proof of Illinois residence in order to make a purchase or making consumer requests.
Businesses will also have to adequately respond to all requests – possibly leading to additional fines.
INCREASED RISK OF CONSUMER IDENTITY THEFT AND FRAUD
By forcing business to create new and untested databases, the proposed legislation would inadvertently create more ways for customers’ identities to be stolen. The consumer request channels will be overwhelmed with fraudulent requests by identify thieves, drowning out the small amount of valid requests.
STEEP LEGAL FEES
If business owners do not comply in the exact way this legislation is written, they could be forced into expensive and superfluous lawsuits.
Many businesses will be forced to hire lawyers to draft privacy policies for their websites that ultimately don’t benefit consumers.
TELL YOUR LAWMAKERS TODAY, THAT THIS SENDS THE WRONG MESSAGE TO CONSUMERS AND SMALL BUSINESSES!
