Consumer Reports and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) oppose H.B. 1365, a bill that would strike the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act’s groundbreaking data minimization provision and replace it with a requirement that companies simply limit their collection of personal data to what is reasonably necessary “in relation to the purposes for which such data is processed, as disclosed to the consumer.”
This change would mean the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act would not meaningfully limit what data companies can collect or what they can do with that data — it would merely require that companies disclose these details in their privacy policies, which consumers rarely read or understand.
We urge the legislature to reject this legislation.
To read the full letter, please see the attached PDF.