AUGUSTA – Rep. Amy Kuhn, D-Falmouth, introduced a measure on Monday before the Maine Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary that would regulate the collection, use, disclosure and sale of Mainers’ personal data as collected by businesses within the state or by those who produce goods and provide services to Maine residents.
Since 2018, a number of states have adopted data privacy laws to protect consumers. While many of those bills focused on consumer consent, LD 1822 seeks to focus on data minimization, which would limit the information that companies are able to collect and use from customers and when they can sell it.
“Maine has an opportunity to enact a truly robust privacy law, where we strike a balance between innovation and accountability while fostering a safer, more equitable digital ecosystem for generations to come,” said Kuhn. “Not only would this bill limit the collection of an individual's data, but it would decrease the likelihood of civil rights violations and security risks that have begun to be associated with data privacy overreaches and failures over the years.”
The bill received broad support, including from the Maine Attorney General’s Office and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).
“Robust data minimization is critical at this time – more and more of our data and information is being collected, bought, sold and processed against consumers’ expectations, without our knowledge, and sometimes to our detriment,” said Assistant Attorney General Brendan O’Neil.
“LD 1822 builds on existing state privacy laws already enacted in nineteen states and incorporates essential provisions to provide Mainers with the protections they need to stay safe online,” said Caitriona Fitzgerald, a representative from EPIC.
A work session on the bill will be scheduled in the coming days.
Representative Amy Kuhn is serving her second term in the Maine House and represents part of Falmouth. She is the House chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary.
Contact:
Brian Lee (Kuhn) | 305-965-2744
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