Massachusetts votes to pass new privacy rights bill that bans sale of precise location data
Massachusetts lawmakers have voted to pass privacy protections that grant the state’s residents new rights over accessing and deleting their data held by big tech giants. The bill also bans companies from selling their users’ precise location data. Lawmakers in the Massachusetts House passed the state’s Consumer Data Privacy Act in a unanimous 146-0 vote on Thursday, months after all of the Senate’s 40 lawmakers voted in favor of advancing its own bill in September. Now, the bills will be combined in the Senate, and sent to the state governor’s office, where it is expected to be signed into law. It’s not immediately clear when that will happen. The move makes Massachusetts the latest U.S. state to push for stronger consumer privacy rights after years of documented abuses by the wider technology, advertising and social media industries. While the United States does not have a nationwide privacy law, unlike many of the world’s major democracies, U.S. states have filled the void of legislation by bringing their own patchwork of privacy rules that apply to their …
