Virginia bans sale of precise geolocation data • Hacker News Board

Re: Virginia bans sale of precise geolocation data

#121

Post by Forgeties79 » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 5:53 AM UTC

dotancohen wrote: post #111

amatecha wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agreed. Even for people who are like "I have nothing to hide", the only people who think this way are simply unaware of just how much harm can come to them without the protection of privacy (and laws that ensure this)... or they just have no self-preservation instinct, I guess?

> or they just have no self-preservation instinct I actually feel this way very often when talking to some younger people online. I wonder if they really competely lack this skill, or their desire for upvotes online leads to them expressing compassionate, but stupid and dangerous, conclusions.

They didn’t grow up before all this was completely normal. And before we throw too many stones at them, we should all maybe consider how many of us in this thread contribute to the “attention economy” in one form or another, most of which drives everyone into the corral to have their data collected.

It’s easy to point fingers at young people and treat them as ignorant/not caring about what matters, but they were born into and grew up in the world we built and continue to build.

Re: Virginia bans sale of precise geolocation data

#122

Post by geonineties » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 6:03 AM UTC

pineapple_opus wrote: post #117

I am intrigued as an outsider, that state in US can have much stronger authority to restrict sale of such personal data.

The thing to remember about US states is that conceptually they are countries bound together in a Federation. There's a crap ton of complicated rules, but generally your state has a lot more power over your life than the US Federal Government does.

Re: Virginia bans sale of precise geolocation data

#123

Post by jboggan » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 6:03 AM UTC

avarun wrote: post #44

As long as this is actually about "sale" of data and actually imposes strict limits on data brokers and all the nefarious actors out there, I am all for it. If it's more similar to the California law, which just calls all uses of data "selling data" and just ends up muddying the waters without actually imposing any regulations of value on the bad actors in the industry, then that would be a shame. There is value to a…

To be fair, the reason the CA laws are much more expansive on all uses of data is because companies have tried a number of arrangements to get around the definition of "sale". This was Sephora's defense back in the first CCPA case, that their data sharing relationship in exchange for targeted marketing services was not "selling" data:

https://ccpa.world/enforcement/sephora-sale-of-pi

Re: Virginia bans sale of precise geolocation data

#124

Post by breppp » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 6:35 AM UTC

somenameforme wrote: post #116

abustamam wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeesh. Collect enough fuzzy data and you can identify a lot about someone.

Yeah I don't understand how something like this makes any sense. Just average out the data points and you're going to get pretty much a straight line path of where and what somebody did. Maybe if there's like one data point per week per person, but even that's going to be pretty informative when averaged as to exactly where somebody lives, works, and so on.

I assume this depends if 1750ft means the location you can derive from the data (together with other data) or the precision of the individual data point

Re: Virginia bans sale of precise geolocation data

#125

Post by ezwoodland » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 7:36 AM UTC

somenameforme wrote: post #116

abustamam wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeesh. Collect enough fuzzy data and you can identify a lot about someone.

Yeah I don't understand how something like this makes any sense. Just average out the data points and you're going to get pretty much a straight line path of where and what somebody did. Maybe if there's like one data point per week per person, but even that's going to be pretty informative when averaged as to exactly where somebody lives, works, and so on.

Depends on if the independent events are uncorrelated. For example, if they had to be quantized to a grid of length 1750ft and quantized sufficiently in time as well, it might be impossible to average out since the various data points provide no new information.

Re: Virginia bans sale of precise geolocation data

#126

Post by shevy-java » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 8:01 AM UTC

They are a bit confused in the USA. For instance, flock cameras are used as mass spying tool. That also yields geolocation data. And also bypasses (parts of) the amendment. There is a lack of consistency here.

Re: Virginia bans sale of precise geolocation data

#127

Post by 6LLvveMx2koXfwn » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 8:12 AM UTC

abustamam wrote: post #113

ascotan wrote: post #105

The article is misleading. The sale of geolocation data can still take place but not for precise locations. The bill prevents the sale of data that can identify you within 1750ft. You can still be tracked just not precisely. i.e. companies will just sell fuzzy geolocation data.

Yeesh. Collect enough fuzzy data and you can identify a lot about someone.

Indeed, I am pretty sure an algorithm exists which both complies with the law and decompiles fuzzy data to 'less fuzzy' data, i.e. identifying data, thus obviating the ban.

Re: Virginia bans sale of precise geolocation data

#128

Post by datahack » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 8:45 AM UTC

ascotan wrote: post #105

The article is misleading. The sale of geolocation data can still take place but not for precise locations. The bill prevents the sale of data that can identify you within 1750ft. You can still be tracked just not precisely. i.e. companies will just sell fuzzy geolocation data.

So, the fact that you went to a medical center just not the specific doctors office?

This seems weak.

Re: Virginia bans sale of precise geolocation data

#129

Post by trentor » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 9:04 AM UTC

Would love if someone with experience could chime in. I've been reading about the geo data market for over two decades now but still have no real sense of its value. What does this data typically cost? And can you specify particular locations/targeting points, or do you just get whatever's available in a broader dataset?

Re: Virginia bans sale of precise geolocation data

#130

Post by titzer » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 9:24 AM UTC

I didn't read the law but the article referred to it as "personal data". It's important to note that Big Tech believes it can "anonymize" fine-grained location data but just stripping PII and assigning a semi-stable random ID. They'll then argue this law doesn't apply because of that.

That's absolute crap because geolocation data is extremely easy to de-anonymize. I wonder whose phone is at my house 12am-8am everyday, takes more or less the same route through the city, and spends hours in my office everyday. I wonder.