Consumer Reports supports Maryland H.B. 567/S.B. 541, consumer privacy legislation. The bill would extend to Maryland consumers important new protections, including meaningful data minimization restrictions, heightened standards for the processing of sensitive data, and strong civil rights protections. The bill also creates baseline consumer privacy rights, including the right to know the information companies have collected about them, the right to access, correct, and delete that information, as well as the ability to require businesses to honor universal opt-out signals and authorized agent requests to opt out of sales, targeted advertising, and profiling.
At the same time, we ask the drafters amend certain provisions that would limit the bill’s reach, including by:
- Broadening opt-out rights to include all data sharing and ensure targeted advertising is adequately covered;
- Adding a private right of action; and
- Removing entity level exemptions for GLBA covered financial institutions.
To read more, please see the attached letter.