Privacy advocates call on Maryland to investigate data brokers
Privacy advocates in Maryland have filed a complaint against several data brokers, alleging they are illegally selling geolocation data to law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. The complaint urges the state attorney general to enforce strict privacy laws against companies tracking residents.
Why it matters
This case highlights the growing tension between commercial data collection practices and state-level privacy protections, particularly regarding surveillance by government agencies.
Maryland has passed some of the strictest data privacy provisions in the country. But privacy and civil rights advocates say commercial data brokers are violating state law by collecting and selling Marylanders' geolocation data, as well as selling information to federal immigration authorities.
Technology Your data is everywhere. The government is buying it without a warrant A coalition of privacy and civil rights groups filed a consumer complaint Wednesday that calls on the state attorney general to investigate specific companies and take enforcement action against them. The complaint comes as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been ramping up its use of commercially-available personal data and surveillance tools to track and deport immigrants as well as monitor protesters .
Two of the named data brokers, Penlink and Thomson Reuters, denied the allegations and told NPR they were in compliance with the law.
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