Mass. hearing spotlights push to ban sale of precise location data to protect patients, protesters and vulnerable groups

A joint legislative hearing in Boston on data privacy focused early and repeatedly on bills that would ban the sale of precise cell‑phone location data and strengthen consumer protections in Massachusetts.

Supporters told the Joint Committee on Advanced Information Technology, the Internet and Cybersecurity that existing private data markets let brokers sell people’s movements to the highest bidder, a practice that can be used to identify visitors to reproductive‑health providers, faith centers, shelters and community events. Representative Farley Bouvier, the House chair presiding at the hearing, and Senator Michael Moore, the Senate chair, framed the panels and witnesses around the risks that location data poses to public safety and civil liberties.

Witnesses from medical, civil‑liberties and…