This US state mulls banning sales of smartphone location data

San Francisco, July 11 (IANS) In a first, the state of Massachusetts in the US is mulling a law to completely ban buying and selling of users’ location data from their smartphones to protect their privacy.

Called the Location Shield Act, it will be a sweeping proposal to curtail the practice of collecting and selling location data drawn from mobile phones in the state, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The bill is sponsored by Senator Cindy Creem, a Democrat representing the Boston suburbs.

“I have every reason to be optimistic that something will be happening in this legislative session,” Creem was quoted as saying.

The proposal would also institute a warrant requirement for law-enforcement access to location data, banning data brokers from providing location information about state residents without court authorisation in most circumstances, the report mentioned.

According to the report, the bill has drawn the support of a coalition of progressive activists in the state, which include the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Abortion rights advocates have argued that phone location data could lead to tracking people traveling out of state seeking the procedure.

The report said that the proposal would still allow digital services to collect consumer location information to deliver services such as weather information or a ride-share service.

However, no US state has gone this far as to completely ban the sale of location data on residents.