Montpelier, Vermont —Consumer Reports expressed its disappointment about S. 71, a consumer data privacy bill that passed the Vermont Legislature today despite objections from consumer advocates. This follows the passage of significantly stronger privacy legislation in 2024 that was ultimately vetoed by the Governor.
The bill includes basic consumer rights, such as the right to know the information companies have collected about them, the right to delete certain information, and the right to limit some data disclosures. However, those rights are undercut by weak definitions of key terms like “targeted advertising”, inadequate provisions relating to sensitive data and data minimization, and insufficient enforcement mechanisms.
“What occurred in Vermont is an unfortunate but clarifying lesson on the brute power of the Big Tech lobby. The legislature previously passed a strong privacy bill in 2024 that was vetoed by the Governor. While consumer and public interest advocates recognized that we’d need to compromise with industry in order to get a bill over the line this year, we had hoped to prevent the legislation from backsliding this far,” said Matt Schwartz, senior policy analyst at Consumer Reports. “Instead, this legislation reflects industry’s favored model of legislation with no compromises on any of the key issues. That will leave consumers vulnerable across a number of areas. We are hopeful that this bill is only a first step and will be rapidly improved upon in future sessions, like some of the other state laws based on a similar model.”
If the Governor signs S 71 into law, Vermont will become the latest state to enact a comprehensive privacy law. Since the passage of the California Consumer Privacy Act in 2018, the number of comprehensive state privacy laws has grown to 22, though the strength of these laws varies in terms of consumer privacy protections.
Contact: cyrus.rassool@consumer.org