Restore The Fourth/Digital Fourth reviewed two comprehensive data privacy bills introduced into the Massachusetts legislature. The best bill is the MA Data Privacy Act (MDPA). We need you to contact your MA lawmakers to ask them to cosponsor and enact the MDPA.

The MDPA is the strongest privacy protection bill proposed in the U.S. The bill would:

• Limit the amount of data companies would be allowed to collect to what is reasonably necessary to provide their products and services;
• Require companies to get your affirmative consent to share your sensitive information (e.g., your address, phone number, email address. geolocation information, social media communications, web searches, etc.) with third parties.
• Protect minors from online harms because all of their data is automatically regarded as sensitive and thus subject to the highest of protections. Parental permission would be needed before sharing a child's data.
• Prevent the sharing of geolocation data of our active duty military troops both at home and abroad with adversaries. Right now this data is accessible to anyone who wants to purchase it from a data broker.
• Block geolocation data of immigrants residing in MA from being accessed by ICE.

And much, much more - consult this document for a full breakdown of the MDPA's provisions.

We've provided a tool to easily write to your representative and senator along with a pre-written letter to help guide your engagement! Please write to your MA lawmaker today!

We also encourage you to call your senator's office to express how important it is that they support the MDPA. You can find your senator's contact information here. During a call, you should ask that they enact comprehensive data privacy legislation and specifically support and cosponsor the MDPA. You can say:

1. Sensitive personal data should never be collected unless it is strictly necessary for a business to deliver the service or product a consumer has requested;
2. Sensitive data must be comprehensive, including medical, financial, biometric, geolocation info, online activity, and more;
3. No sensitive data should be transferred to anyone by any company (or non-profit) without the affirmative consent of the individual whose data it is;
4. The bill must be enforceable with a private right of action allowing individuals and organizations that can represent them to sue for violations of the bill, and this cannot be left solely to the limited personnel and resources of the Attorney General.

Thank you so much for helping us to enact strong comprehensive data privacy legislation in MA!