Live data from Hacker News

Massachusetts bans sale of precise location data in new privacy rights bill

techcrunch.com

21–30 of 65 posts

Re: Massachusetts bans sale of precise location data in new privacy rights bill

#21
post #2

This is good and all States should adopt some. Eventually I’d like to see one at the federal level that supersedes state level ones so that we don’t have to deal the the mess that is taxation across 50 states. A nice uniform privacy bill at the Fed level would be nice.

No, we specifically DO NOT want uniformity. We want a minimum that states can go beyond.

In the current environment, tech companies have to bribe 50 states plus the federal legislature in order to block privacy bills. If you have federal preemption, then you just have to bribe Congress, because states can't pass ANY privacy laws whatsoever. And we already know the feds do not want a privacy law: the entire legality of the federal surveillance apparatus hinges on the fact that buying your data from third parties does not trip constitutional scrutiny. Preemption freezes the requirements in time so they will always be a few steps behind the TLAs[0].

The ideal is that every sovereign entity passes their own privacy law that applies to their territory, with a private right of action, and adtech companies are forced to adopt a "50 states legal" posture. This is, deliberately, a ratchet: it's easy for any state to require a higher standard but hard to get every state to reduce it, so privacy laws cannot be walked back in secret.

[0] Three Letter Agencies: CIA, FBI, NSA

Re: Massachusetts bans sale of precise location data in new privacy rights bill

#22

Does this include vehicle data? That's a big one. Your new car selling you out constantly.

I've been driving connected cars for a decade and I haven't felt sold out yet. What am I missing?

I bought a car earlier this year and it took about a week before I started getting car warranty junk mail for the new car.

Re: Massachusetts bans sale of precise location data in new privacy rights bill

#23
post #13

California very quietly passed AB-1542 last week which includes precise location data, health data, SSNs, etc. I expect many states to follow suit. Related, General Motors got hit with a $12.75M fine for reselling OnStar location data last month: https://ccpa.world/enforcement/gm-onstar-smart-driver

> I expect many states to follow suit.

More importantly, many companies will follow California rules even outside California. My car was built to California emissions spec at a time when very few states had stricter rules.

(The one major exception seems to be the "sell my data" opt-out and such privacy rules, that industry is sleazy enough that they'll go through extra trouble to keep screwing over non-CA residents.)

Re: Massachusetts bans sale of precise location data in new privacy rights bill

#24

Does this include vehicle data? That's a big one. Your new car selling you out constantly.

I've been driving connected cars for a decade and I haven't felt sold out yet. What am I missing?

Are you asking for articles that show how connected car data is being sold left and right?

Re: Massachusetts bans sale of precise location data in new privacy rights bill

#25

Does this include vehicle data? That's a big one. Your new car selling you out constantly.

I've been driving connected cars for a decade and I haven't felt sold out yet. What am I missing?

Tail risk. Only <1% of people get punished by their car's data. IMO that's still too much.

Re: Massachusetts bans sale of precise location data in new privacy rights bill

#26
post #13

California very quietly passed AB-1542 last week which includes precise location data, health data, SSNs, etc. I expect many states to follow suit. Related, General Motors got hit with a $12.75M fine for reselling OnStar location data last month: https://ccpa.world/enforcement/gm-onstar-smart-driver

> I expect many states to follow suit. More importantly, many companies will follow California rules even outside California. My car was built to California emissions spec at a time when very few states had stricter rules. (The one major exception seems to be the "sell my data" opt-out and such privacy rules, that industry is sleazy enough that they'll go through extra trouble to keep screwing over non-CA residents.)

Well, CT and VT passed their own version of the California DROP system last week and there are 5 other states in play for the current 2026 legislative sessions. I think it will be a slow patchwork for more states to take similar action, but it is coming.

I will note that many "data brokers" will just honor non-California residents' requests as if they were California residents and subject to the CCPA, simply because they would rather remove a potentially litigious consumer from their databases. Given the relatively low potential revenue for a single consumer's data it just doesn't make sense to hold on to information for the kind of person who currently goes out of their way to make that kind of request.

At the same time, many data brokers do go out of their way to deny as many privacy requests as possible. Given that the CPPA/CalPrivacy is starting audits very soon I don't see this as a winning strategy for them in the long run.

Re: Massachusetts bans sale of precise location data in new privacy rights bill

#27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been driving connected cars for a decade and I haven't felt sold out yet. What am I missing?

I bought a car earlier this year and it took about a week before I started getting car warranty junk mail for the new car.

I always thought that is from companies that get their hands on registration data. Or I could be wrong and it is the dealer itself selling it on not the manufacturer.

Re: Massachusetts bans sale of precise location data in new privacy rights bill

#28

Does this include vehicle data? That's a big one. Your new car selling you out constantly.

I've been driving connected cars for a decade and I haven't felt sold out yet. What am I missing?

Your driving habits, and everyone around you are impacting car insurance for example.

Re: Massachusetts bans sale of precise location data in new privacy rights bill

#29

Does this include vehicle data? That's a big one. Your new car selling you out constantly.

I've been driving connected cars for a decade and I haven't felt sold out yet. What am I missing?

Are you in the US? Currently if you are in the US and not native-born, you're at very direct risk. That data is how ICE builds their enforcement leads. It's still often wrong, so they might break down your door and arrest you at gunpoint anyways.

Re: Massachusetts bans sale of precise location data in new privacy rights bill

#30

Does this include vehicle data? That's a big one. Your new car selling you out constantly.

I've been driving connected cars for a decade and I haven't felt sold out yet. What am I missing?

* Massachusetts' RMV AFAICT resells one's data, resulting in new car purchasers receiving a huge amount of fraud in their mail. It can be difficult to distinguish what is a legitimate correspondence from the dealership vs. what isn't, as the fraud mail does not clearly identify itself. (And in fact, that's the tell.)

* My Subaru runs ads for Sirius XM. (Ad, on the infotainment screen. While the car's in motion.) I did not pay for my car to run ads, obviously, and obviously that was never mentioned by the dealer, ever, before or after purchase.

Post reply on HN