This I could get behind. Make legislation that forces a company to disclose the information they collect in an explicit way.

As a consumer I'd also like a way to force my data to be deleted, and be notified if my data is being sold or transferred by an acquisition or something, but I'm not sure how that would work.

What I don't want is not having the ability to "pay with data". I don't want to subscribe to everything out there, and paywalls threaten the web as we know it. Plus there are times where I want to be tracked. If a company has info on how I use the product, they can improve it for me.

I say make any company collecting info (beyond maybe some very bare-bones basics that any company providing a service pretty much has to have, like name, address, phone number) about its users provide that info, say, once a year, on request. Kinda like the annual free credit reports from the credit agencies.

ALL of it, too. Every time. Not just what was collected since last report. Even require that they provide it on physical media if desired. Again, for free, including postage.

"But that will be so expensive because we collect so much and never get rid of any!"

... yeah, so what?

Now they're free to do it but can't hide what they're collecting and can't hold your data hostage. And there's some cost associated with collecting more than is absolutely necessary.