Purpose: The United States Data Protection Act aims to protect the privacy and security of individuals’ personal data and to regulate the collection, processing, and use of personal data by entities operating within the United States.

1. Scope and Definitions:

The Act applies to all entities, including businesses, government agencies, and non-profit organizations, that collect, process, or use personal data of individuals residing in the United States.
Definitions of key terms such as “personal data,” “processing,” “data subject,” and “controller” are provided.

2. Principles of Data Protection:

Lawfulness, Fairness, and Transparency: Personal data must be processed lawfully, fairly, and in a transparent manner.
Purpose Limitation: Personal data must be collected for specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner incompatible with those purposes.
Data Minimization: Personal data must be adequate, relevant, and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which it is processed.
Accuracy: Personal data must be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date.
Storage Limitation: Personal data must be kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data is processed.
Integrity and Confidentiality: Personal data must be processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security, including protection against unauthorized or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction, or damage.

3. Data Subject Rights:

Right of Access: Data subjects have the right to obtain confirmation from the controller as to whether or not personal data concerning them is being processed, and, where that is the case, access to the personal data.
Right to Rectification: Data subjects have the right to obtain from the controller without undue delay the rectification of inaccurate personal data concerning them.
Right to Erasure: Data subjects have the right to obtain from the controller the erasure of personal data concerning them without undue delay.
Right to Restriction of Processing: Data subjects have the right to obtain from the controller restriction of processing.
Right to Data Portability: Data subjects have the right to receive the personal data concerning them, which they have provided to a controller, in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.
Right to Object: Data subjects have the right to object, on grounds relating to their particular situation, at any time to processing of personal data concerning them.

4. Data Security and Breach Notification:

Data controllers must implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk, including protection against unauthorized or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction, or damage.
Data controllers must notify the appropriate supervisory authority and affected individuals of any data breaches without undue delay.

5. Data Transfers:

Personal data may only be transferred to countries or international organizations that ensure an adequate level of data protection.
Standard contractual clauses, binding corporate rules, or other approved mechanisms must be used for transfers to countries without an adequate level of data protection.

6. Enforcement and Accountability:

The Act is enforced by a designated data protection authority, which has the power to conduct investigations, issue fines, and impose other penalties for non-compliance.
Data controllers are accountable for compliance with the Act and must be able to demonstrate such compliance.

7. Special Categories of Data:

Special categories of data, such as health information, genetic data, and data concerning racial or ethnic origin, may be subject to additional safeguards and restrictions on processing.

8. Privacy Impact Assessments and Data Protection by Design and by Default:

Data controllers must conduct privacy impact assessments for high-risk processing activities and implement data protection principles by design and by default.

9. Codes of Conduct and Certification:

Industry-specific codes of conduct and certification mechanisms may be developed to demonstrate compliance with the Act.

10. Cooperation and Consistency:

The data protection authority must cooperate with other competent authorities to ensure consistent application and enforcement of data protection laws.

11. Penalties:

Non-compliance with the Act may result in administrative fines, injunctions, or other penalties.

12. Transitional Provisions:

Existing data processing activities must be brought into compliance with the Act within a specified transition period.

13. Relationship with Other Laws:

The Act does not affect the application of other laws that provide for the protection of personal data, including sector-specific privacy laws.