The Virginia Senate passed a bill, SB 1023, banning the sale of consumers’ precise geolocation information, and it’s now pending in the Senate. Geolocation can be incredibly useful for pro-consumer applications such as turn-by-turn directions and finding a nearby restaurant; however, all too often this information is secretly collected and shared by dozens if not hundreds of ad networks and data brokers with whom consumers have no relationship or even awareness.
While this strong legislation passed in one side of the legislature, companies that profit off this sale are coming out in droves to block it.
A coalition of CFA, Consumer Reports, EPIC, Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Action, Center for Democracy and Technology, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Interest Research Group, National Consumers League, and Restore the Fourth wrote to the legislative committee considering the bill responding to the incorrect claims by industry.