Published on September 23, 2025
ACLU-MA Supported
Your action is needed today and it will make a big impact, here's why. The ACLU-MA has just sent this important update: the Massachusetts Senate will vote on comprehensive data privacy legislation, known as the Massachusetts Data Privacy Act (S.2608) this Thursday, September 25. A ban on the sale of cell phone location data is included in this bill, and the ACLU-MA supports this comprehensive privacy legislation. (Action link is below!)
The ACLU-MA believes that strong data privacy legislation must ban the sale of our sensitive data, limit how companies handle our data, and provide a strong enforcement mechanism. The Massachusetts Data Privacy Act, as written, achieves many of these goals, including a complete ban on the sale of sensitive data including a ban on the sale of cell phone location data. There are, however, several ways that the bill can be improved, and the ACLU-MA and its partners are supporting several amendments that will strengthen the bill. The ACLU-MA is also urging legislators to reject all industry driven amendments that would weaken the bill.
Here is a run-down of the amendments the ACLU-MA supports:
#52 (Rausch) - Closing Loophole to Prevent All Sales of Sensitive Data
No one should be able to sell the most intimate details about our lives. Even if certain industries are regulated in a general way under federal law, none of those regulations ban the sale of our sensitive data. Massachusetts law should not include broad carveouts that leave consumers vulnerable.
#25 (Friedman) and #4 (Creem) - Preventing Location Tracking for People Traveling to Massachusetts
Massachusetts has worked hard to make sure that people who come to our state for reproductive and gender affirming care have all the protections we can offer. It's critical for this new law to protect the privacy of people's location data collected in our state, regardless of where they are from.
#55 and #56 (Rausch) - Strong Enforcement
#55 Private Right of Action - allow people to seek redress in court when their rights are violated. A law without a strong enforcement mechanism is just a recommendation.
#56 Enforcing Sensitive Data Sale Prohibition - a private right of action just for the most egregious violations of the law, when companies illegally sell people's sensitive data.
Attorney General Andrea Campbell strongly supports a private right of action because her office will never have sufficient resources to enforce the law alone.
Call your State Senator today and fill out this email action before Thursday, when the bill will come to the floor for a vote: https://mobilize.aclum.org/a/pass-strong-data-privacy-legislation
Thank you for taking action! Let's make the State Senators' phones ring off the hook today and Wednesday! (It's rare when they get 5 calls in one day, so let's make it 100+ each day!)
When the House takes up the issue, we will reach out again with next steps.
The Indivisible Mass Coalition Coordinating Board