Ben Winters, Director of AI and Privacy submitted the following testimony urging the Maryland General Assembly to advance HB895/SB387, with recommended amendments to ensure it is catching both current and future harm, as well as aligning definitions throughout the state.

Algorithms increasingly mediate critical determinations for Marylanders – housing eligibility, hiring decisions, what content they’re shown, and how much they pay for food. This is often done with no transparency or choice for consumers, and to the detriment of their bank accounts.

We do recommend two changes: (1) align the relevant data definitions to the existing definitions under Maryland’s data privacy law and (2) include explicit inclusion of online food retailers like Instacart and ensure massive corporations like Amazon’s Whole Foods have to comply regardless of their physical footprint in MD borders.