OKLAHOMA CITY – Bipartisan legislation to address concerns over data privacy and data manipulation unanimously passed out of the House Technology Committee today with a vote of 6 to 0.

The Oklahoma Computer Data Privacy Act, House Bill 1602, requires internet technology companies to obtain explicit permission to collect and sell personal data.

The legislation has bipartisan support and is co-authored by more than 40 representatives and senators. The legislation’s primary authors, Reps. Josh West and Collin Walke, see the bill as an opportunity to claw back privacy rights from companies that continue to abuse them.

“This bill protects Oklahomans from companies that seek strictly to profit off of the buying or selling of their personal data so they can then try to steer their purchasing and other life decisions,” West said. “These practices by big tech are wrong and harmful. The only argument against this bill is that it limits big tech’s profitability. I’m OK with that.”

The legislation is one of the first “opt-in” data privacy bills in the country. The bill’s authors hope that other states will follow suit so that the practice of data mining without consent ends.

“It is a bit absurd that these companies think it’s ok to do this in the first place,” Walke said. “This legislation is a chance for our citizens to stand up to large corporations and this intrusive practice. We don’t have to sit back and let our data be taken from us, and we aren’t going to.”

HB1602 is now eligible to be heard on the House floor.