In a digital world where personal data is constantly harvested and exploited, a new movement is rising to reclaim consumer control. Cloaked, a consumer-first privacy and security company, has officially launched the My Data, Act! campaign with the release of a new advocacy hub, MyDataAct.org. Inspired by the MY DATA Act of 2025 (H.R. 6043) introduced by U.S. Representative Lori Trahan, this initiative advocates for federal protections that allow individuals to use privacy-enhancing technologies without penalty. We sat down with Arjun Bhatnagar, co-founder and CEO of Cloaked, to discuss why privacy is a fundamental right and how this campaign aims to shift the legal landscape from passive consent to active protection.
Q: Cloaked was founded on the belief that privacy is a fundamental right for everyone. What was the driving force behind launching the “My Data, Act!” campaign now, and what is its primary mission?
Arjun Bhatnagar: At Cloaked, privacy has always been at the core of what we do. We’ve dedicated ourselves to equipping and educating consumers to take back control of their digital lives and safety. Yet the world is experiencing a record number of data breaches, and new technologies like artificial intelligence are making it harder to protect our data and easier to fall prey to malicious activity.
After 18 months of meeting with policymakers and the introduction of Representative Lori Trahan’s MY DATA Act of 2025 (H.R. 6043), we believe we have an opportunity to turn our mission and commitment to consumer data privacy rights into legislative action.
The My Data, Act! campaign is meant to engage consumers and advocate for the first federal policy that puts consumer data privacy front and center. By legalizing the use of privacy-enhancing tools without penalty, we’re moving the world from ‘passive consent’ to ‘active protection,’ ensuring that use of “persistent identifiers” or ‘cloaks” for your identity is enshrined as a legal right.
Q: The campaign is closely tied to the MY DATA Act of 2025 (H.R. 6043). For those unaware, how does this bill propose to protect consumers who wish to use privacy-enhancing technologies, like aliases or “cloaked” identities?
Arjun Bhatnagar: The MY DATA Act of 2025 addresses a major loophole for anti-consumer privacy practices. Currently, companies can block accounts or deny services just because a consumer chooses to protect their sensitive information using identifiers instead of exposing personally identifiable or sensitive details. However, this bill flips the script and explicitly prohibits businesses from discriminating against or penalizing individuals who use privacy-enhancing technologies to protect their identity. It essentially establishes the use of persistent identifiers or ‘cloaked’ data as a protected legal right rather than a reason for the block. The bill ensures people can still communicate and shop online securely without being forced to share personal identifying information.
It moves us away from a system of passive consent and toward a world where ‘privacy by default’ is the legal standard, making all of us safer from data exploitation, identity theft and data breaches.
Q: You’ve noted that the digital landscape is changing rapidly with the emergence of technologies like artificial intelligence. Why is protecting consumer data critical to maintaining personal safety in this specific moment?
Arjun Bhatnagar: The rapid rise of artificial intelligence has fundamentally shifted the stakes of data privacy and security. AI thrives on the massive aggregation of personal details. In the hands of bad actors, that data can be used to fuel ultra-realistic voice cloning, deepfake scams, and hyper-targeted social engineering that are becoming nearly impossible to detect. When your real phone number or email is exposed today, it becomes a data point that AI can use to weaponize your identity against you or your family.
We are in a race to ensure that privacy becomes a proactive defense before technology outpaces our ability to protect our personal safety. Using masked identifiers is a key tool in protecting data from artificial intelligence, aggregators, data brokers, and malicious actors, which can easily scrape and aggregate data points that reveal your identity and potentially put you in harm’s way.
Q: Your team has spent 18 months meeting with policymakers leading up to this launch. What has your experience entailed and how does the new website, MyDataAct.org, help individuals translate that awareness into tangible action with Congress?
Arjun Bhatnagar: Our discussions with policymakers on both sides of the aisle have allowed us to educate and inform those who play a critical role in ensuring consumers have data privacy protections, while understanding new privacy technology built for the consumer. We’ve been able to discuss the need to shift policies that don’t work, such as leaving big tech and corporations to govern data protection, and to reorient the conversation around an individual’s right to protect their own data. We’ve also been able to make this very personal for policymakers. By demonstrating how easy it is to uncover their personal information with only one piece of data, such as an email or phone number, via our Cloaked hotline (1.855.752.5625), we instantly prove the need for proper consumer protections.
With the introduction of the MY DATA Act of 2025, it’s clear that policymakers are starting to listen. But to take this legislation forward, more members of Congress need to hear from their constituents. They also need to hear from other companies that share Cloaked’s mission to protect individual privacy. The MyDataAct.org site allows them to do this.
MyDataAct.org makes it easier than ever for people to speak up and advocate for consumer privacy through a direct line to Congress. The site provides a clear, informative breakdown of the MY DATA Act to easily understand how the law protects consumer privacy. It also features built-in tools that allow users to find their representatives and send a pre-drafted message or use a 30-second calling script to let them know that privacy and the passage of this bill are important to them.
By playing an active role in supporting consumer data privacy rights and simplifying the process for advocating for change, we’re hoping to empower individuals to move beyond just worrying about privacy and start actively demanding the federal protections they deserve.
Q: This campaign advocates for a shift away from “passive consent” toward a future where “privacy by default” is the norm. What impact do you hope this federal standard will have on businesses and data safety nationwide?
Arjun Bhatnagar: A federal standard for ‘privacy by default’ would finally offer businesses and consumers alike a clear, predictable playbook for data safety, moving us away from the current patchwork of state laws. For companies, the impact is actually a major reduction in risk: when you minimize the collection of raw personal data and instead use ‘cloaked’ identifiers, you drastically lower the value of your database to hackers.
By making sensitive information less profitable to steal, we naturally discourage cyberattacks and limit the damage when breaches do occur. Ultimately, I hope this shift helps businesses realize that they don’t have to be data hoarders to be successful. It’s about building a foundation of trust where companies can still innovate and provide great service, including communicating with their consumer, but without the liability of holding onto every customer’s most vulnerable personal details.
Cloaked is leading the charge to ensure that privacy is not just a luxury, but a protected legal standard. By empowering consumers, partnering with industry leaders and working with policymakers, Arjun Bhatnagar and his team are paving the way for a safer digital future where individuals can take back control of their personal information. To join the movement and contact your representatives, visit MyDataAct.org.
