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Mass. hearing spotlights push to ban sale of cell‑phone location data
Summary
Lawmakers, doctors and privacy advocates told the Joint Committee on Advanced IT that buying and selling precise device location data threatens reproductive care, public safety and civil rights; sponsors urged a Location Shield Act to bar such sales while allowing device functions that rely on location.
Lawmakers, health‑care providers and privacy advocates urged a legislative ban on the sale of smartphone location data during a joint committee hearing on technology and cybersecurity at the State House and online on Oct. 12, 2025. Supporters said data brokers routinely sell detailed device location records and that the information has been used to target people seeking reproductive and gender‑affirming care, worshippers, victims of domestic violence and other vulnerable groups.
Proponents framed the Location Shield Act as a narrow, urgently needed fix to what they described as an unsafe status quo. “I’m here to speak in strong support of H.86 and an act to protect location privacy,” Representative David Viera told the committee, pointing to the…
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