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President Barack Obama wants Congress to pass legislation requiring companies to inform customers within 30 days if their data has been hacked, a move that follows high-profile breaches at retailers including Target, Home Depot and Neiman Marcus.

A White House official said Obama would announce the proposed legislation Monday, along with a measure aimed at preventing companies from selling student data to third parties and from using information collected in school to engage in targeted advertising.

Obama's proposals are part of a White House effort to preview components of the president's State of the Union address in the lead-up to the Jan. 20 speech. The official, who insisted on anonymity, was not authorized to discuss the proposed legislation by name ahead of Obama's speech at the Federal Trade Commission.

If passed by Congress, the Personal Data Notification and Protection Act could require U.S. companies to notify customers within 30 days of their personal information being compromised. Recent hackings have exposed the lack of uniform practices for alerting customers in the event of a breach.

The legislation would also make it a crime to sell customers' identities overseas.

Obama's proposals also follow last month's hacking at Sony Pictures Entertainment. The White House has blamed the cyber attack on North Korea and responded with new sanctions against the isolated nation.

In addition to the customer notification legislation, Obama will also ask lawmakers to pass the Student Digital Privacy Act. The measure would prohibit companies from selling student data to third parties, a move spurred by the increased use of technology in schools that can scoop up personal information.

The White House official said the proposed bill is based on a California statute.

It's unclear whether the new Republican-led Congress will take up either of Obama's legislative proposals.

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Obama To Propose Laws On Hacking Notification, Student Privacy

U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to call Monday for new federal legislation requiring hacked private companies to report quickly the compromise of consumer data.

Obama is also likely to propose rules that prohibit technology companies from profiting from information collected in schools, according to a report Sunday in the New York Times, quoting White House officials.

The proposed federal law on data hacks, which the president is expected to discuss in a speech to the Federal Trade Commission, would require companies to report within 30 days of finding that their data has been hacked, according to the newspaper. It will specify when breaches must be disclosed and makes it a crime to sell a persons online information abroad. The FTC would have the authority to penalize errant companies.

The call for the Personal Data Notification and Protection Act comes in the wake of the hack in November of Sony Pictures, which the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation holds was the handiwork of North Korea, and previous hacks of the point-of-sale systems of a number of retailers like Target and Home Depot.

The collection and handling of information of students by technology companies has been a large concern with parents groups in the U.S.

Microsoft and other companies that provide education technologies and services to U.S. schools at the kindergarten to 12th standard levels took a pledge in October not to sell student information or behaviorally target advertising. Apple later joined the program.

The companies pledged, among other things, to be transparent about the collection and use of data, to adopt comprehensive security standards to protect student data and use the data only for authorized education purposes. The move was, however, seen as an attempt to propose self-regulation as an alternative to tighter laws.

Obamas proposal is expected to be similar to a law already passed in California.

California Governor Jerry Brown signed in September a bill to prohibit targeting of students for online marketing and advertising, selling of student information, profiling students based on data collected, and requiring operators to have security measures to protect student data.

Obama is expected to announce in a series of speeches, ahead of the State of the Union Address on Jan. 20, plans for higher privacy protection, improved safeguards against identity thefts, higher cybersecurity for the government and private companies, and better access to high-speed broadband connections across the country, the New York Times reported over the weekend.

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Obama aims to tighten laws on data hacking and student privacy

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