(TNS) — The state Senate has approved a ‘first-in-the-nation’ ban on the sale of cellphone location data as part of a sweeping electric privacy bill, but the plan faces opposition from business groups who say it will hurt the state’s competitiveness.
The Massachusetts Data Privacy Act, which passed unanimously Thursday with bipartisan support, would prohibit companies from collecting more data than necessary for products or services, and shield sensitive information like biometric and health data. If approved, Massachusetts would become the first state to ban the use of the data.
The measure would also ban the use of sensitive data for targeted digital advertising, and allow consumers to opt out of having their personal information used to generate targeted ads.
Senate President Karen Spilka heralded passage of the “visionary” legislation saying it will provide some of the “best data privacy protections in the country” at a time when online consumers’ personal information is “under attack” by corporations seeking to use it for marketing and other purposes.
“When Massachusetts residents’ personal information is being offered up for sale to the tech billionaire with the highest bid, it is imperative that we act decisively to protect individuals and families,” the Ashland Democrat said in a statement.
State Sen. Barry Finegold, who co-chairs the Legislature’s Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, called the bill a “groundbreaking initiative” and said it will give consumers “expanded rights over their personal data by protecting sensitive information — including for minors, limiting intrusive targeted ads, and granting the Attorney General new enforcement powers.”
“Massachusetts is setting the standard for innovation and consumer protection,” the Andover Democrat said in a prepared statement.
But the bill is opposed by major business groups and the tech industry, which say it goes beyond the bill’s original intent to protect consumer data.
Sam Larson, vice president of government affairs at the pro-business lobbying group Associated Industries of Massachusetts, praised lawmakers for stripping the bill of a provision that would’ve allowed citizens to sue over the illegal use of their cellphone data, but said the measure would still hurt the state’s high-tech industry.
“We are grateful to the Senate for not including a dangerous private right of action in the data-privacy bill,” he said in a prepared statement. “However, the bill is an outlier and will disadvantage Massachusetts businesses and hurt our state’s competitiveness.”
But the bill’s advance was praised by the Massachusetts chapter of the American Civil Liberty Union, which said without the protections, big tech companies will be allowed to collect and manipulate unlimited quantities of personal data about users of social media websites and other online platforms.
“Massachusetts urgently needs strong privacy laws to prohibit companies from collecting or manipulating our personal information in ways that threaten our safety, discriminate against us, or otherwise threaten our most essential rights,” Carol Rose, ACLU of Massachusetts’ executive director, said in a prepared statement.
In Congress, lawmakers were considering a bipartisan data protection bill last year, but the measure failed to come up for a vote despite clearing a key legislative committee.
The tech industry has pushed its own versions of the data privacy laws on a state and federal level. Most would require individuals to correct or delete personal data about themselves, and opt out of use of that information for advertising.
Massachusetts’ data protection bill would still need to be approved by the House of Representatives before heading to Gov. Maura Healey’s desk for consideration.
© 2025 the Gloucester Daily Times (Gloucester, Mass.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
